Health Minister Chiang Been-huang says that new rules on food imports from Japan do not mean a ban on Japanese food products. Chiang was speaking at a meeting of Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers on Friday.
His statement comes after a Japan’s Sankei Shimbun ran a report Thursday saying that Taiwan would place a moratorium on the import of Japanese food products.
Taiwan has banned imports of food from five Japanese prefectures since 2011 amid fears of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. New rules, which took effect on Friday, require that all imported Japanese food products come with proof-of-origin certificates.
In addition, the new rules also require that several “high risk” products from certain areas of Japan come with radiation safety certificates.
Chiang said that tests have found that Japanese food products already on the shelves in Taiwan are safe. However, Chiang also said that the new regulations are necessary to ensure safety after Taiwanese authorities discovered a number of imported Japanese food products with falsified place-of-origin labels. Chiang said that Taiwan and Japan will continue talks on the import regulations.