Supermarket shelves in Singapore are once again stocked with food products from Fukushima, Japan.

There was a nine-year hiatus following the nuclear plant meltdown in the prefecture, after the devastating tsunami and earthquake of 2011.

The ban on the import of all food items – from peaches to sake and fish – from the prefecture was lifted last month, marking the end of a series of import controls on produce from across Japan, including Tokyo, Kanagawa and Shizuoka, over the past decade.

Consumers interviewed said they were happy to get their food products from Japan again, but were still wary about those from Fukushima.

Soh Ling Hong, 55, told The Straits Times that she had been buying Japanese produce regularly but she is more prudent when it comes to food products from Fukushima prefecture.

“If it’s rice and fruits, I don’t mind buying them. But if it’s seafood products, I would think twice because the ocean was affected by the radioactive leak,” said Soh, an administrator.

“It’s a case of being safe than sorry,” said Kevin Cheah, 53, a commercial pilot who has chosen not to buy food products from the prefecture at all.

“You can still get food from other parts of Japan, so why do you want to get it from Fukushima?” he said.

Singapore Food Agency’s (SFA’s) lifting of the ban will allow seafood and forest-gathered products – such as wild berries and wild mushrooms – from the city of Fukushima, as well as all food products from areas within the prefecture, to be imported into Singapore.

Fukushima is highly dependent on agricultural exports.

Among other requirements, food products must be accompanied by a test certificate for radioactive contaminants to show that it meets safety standards, and a certificate of origin to identify their prefecture of origin said the SFA.

The agency said the import restrictions were lifted in line with its food safety assessments and that it had been closely monitoring food imports from Japan over the years.

It added that it had not detected any radioactive contaminant in food imports from Japan in the past five years.

After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered meltdowns, leaking radioactive material into the air, soil and sea, the former Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority – now the SFA – banned the import of some food products from 11 prefectures in Japan.

The restrictions were progressively lifted in 2014 and last year, following periodic reviews by the agency.

In 2010, before the incident, seafood imported from Japan constituted less than two per cent of Singapore’s total seafood imports by quantity. The import of other food products from Japan is less than 0.5 per cent.

Food imports from Japan made up less than one per cent of Singapore’s total imports in 2018. Imports from Fukushima prefecture made up less than 0.1 per cent of total food imports in the same year.

Prof William Chen, the Michael Fam chair professor and director of Nanyang Technological University’s Food Science and Technology Programme, said with the natural decay of radioactive materials after nine years and the SFA’s inspection measures in place, consumers should not be too concerned.

“Consumers may want to know that radioactivity is everywhere in our living environment, albeit at very low levels. More importantly, our body has a repair system to counter any damage caused by radiation.

“As such, there is no need to worry about food imported from Fukushima after they have been cleared by SFA – which would mean that the radioactivity level is comparable with the level in the living environment,” he said.

Japanese supermarket chain Meidi-Ya was unable to say if it now stocks Fukushima products, following the lifting of the ban.

A spokesman said products from Fukushima “are not always in stock – it depends on suppliers and the season”.

Major supermarket chains FairPrice and Sheng Siong said that they do not currently carry any food products from Fukushima prefecture.

A FairPrice spokesman said that the chain, however, stocks some candy products that were specially brought in for festive promotions at selected stores.

A Dairy Farm spokesman declined to comment on whether its Cold Storage and Giant stores carry Fukushima food imports.

THE STRAITS TIMES (SINGAPORE)/ASIA NEWS NETWORK