Switzerland to Lift Restrictions on Imports of Japanese Food Products Due to the Middle Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster This Month

Illustration of sales of Japanese marine products. (Wikimedia Commons/t-mizo)

JAKARTA - Switzerland plans to lift restrictions on imports of food products from several parts of Japan, imposed after the Fukushima nuclear power plant tragedy in 2011.

With the lifting planned for August 15, Switzerland will follow the lead of the European Union in removing remaining controls requiring radiation tests on some agricultural and fishery products from 10 prefectures, including Fukushima, this Thursday.

Swiss Ambassador to Japan Andreas Baum told Fukushima Governor Masao Uchibori of the decision to remove the restrictions when they met at the Swiss Embassy in Tokyo on Monday, according to the prefectural government, reported by Kyodo News, February 2.

Along with the revocation by the European Union and Switzerland, there will be only 10 countries that will impose import restrictions on Japanese food products.

Previously, around 55 countries had imposed restrictions on Japanese food imports, due to fears of radiation contamination after the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.

The United States, Israel and Singapore will lift all post-Fukushima restrictions on imports of Japanese food products in 2021, while the UK and Indonesia will lift them in 2022.

In Asia, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau maintain import restrictions on Japanese food products.

Most recently, China and Hong Kong have intensified radiation inspections of seafood imports from Japan, ahead of plans to release treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.

The water, which is processed through an advanced liquid processing system that removes radionuclides other than tritium, will be diluted to a forty-fourth of the concentration permitted by Japanese safety standards, before being released through an undersea tunnel 1 kilometer from the power plant around summer.