Food safety stressed in face of Japan's radioactive discharge

China will remain highly vigilant regarding Japan's move to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, and take all necessary measures to ensure food safety for consumers, the General Administration of Customs said on Friday.

Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, handed a review report to the Japanese government on Tuesday, in which he said in the foreword that "controlled, gradual discharges of the treated water" into the Pacific Ocean "would have a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment".

However, the head of the GAC's bureau of import and export food safety said in a statement that the report did not fully reflect the opinions of all experts involved in the research work, and its conclusions did not have unanimous approval from the experts.

There are still many issues such as the legitimacy of the ocean discharge on the Japanese side, the reliability of purification equipment and the thoroughness of monitoring plans, the official added.

The GAC has attached great importance to the issue of radioactive contamination in Japanese food imports after the country's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was crippled by a massive earthquake-triggered tsunami in 2011.

Japan is set to release more than 1.3 million metric tons of nuclear-contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean this summer from the plant. The amount of radioactive water can fill 500 Olympic-size swimming pools, according to Fukushima Central Television.

Chinese Customs authorities have closely monitored the measures taken by the Japanese government in response to the Fukushima accident and continuously assessed the radiation risks from Japanese food, said the GAC statement.

In order to safeguard the food safety for Chinese consumers, since 2011 the GAC has banned the importation of food products from 10 Japanese prefectures, including Fukushima. It has also intensified scrutiny and strict verification of accompanying documents for food imports from other Japanese regions, especially aquatic products.

Japan has several other options to deal with the nuclear-contaminated water, experts said. However, for its own purposes the country has opted for the most economical choice, while imposing a high cost on the rest of the world.

The IAEA report fails to adequately address the legitimate concerns of the international community. It lacks sufficient discussion and provisions for subsequent reviews, assessment tasks and long-term monitoring plans, said Liu Senlin, a researcher from the Beijing-based China Institute of Atomic Energy.

He said the potential impacts of the ocean discharge go beyond the radiological effects and involve social, psychological, economic and marine ecology aspects. The predictive assessment is not a comprehensive evaluation, Liu said.

Similar views were expressed by Jin Yongming, a professor of international affairs at the Ocean University of China in Qingdao, Shandong province. "Apart from China and the Republic of Korea, there have been heavy concerns, objections and inquiries raised in other parts of the world, such as by member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Pacific Island countries, regarding this issue," Jin said.