Thursday, March 17, 2011

The European Union recommends the monitoring of food imported from Japan

The European Commission has recommended that EU countries to monitor food imported from Japan, to determine whether they are radioactive, according to today hadeclarado Community Health spokesman Frederic Vincent. The Commission has recommended that countries carry out special tests on food products that have reached the European Union from March 15 to monitor whether they are affected by radioactive contamination.

This advice has been sent through the Rapid Alert System (SAR), whereby the Commission transmitted to the 27 member countries recommendations for possible food hazards to human health or animal. The EU executive reacts this way to the threat of radioactive Fukushima nuclear plant damaged by the earthquake and tsunami of last Friday.

The spokesman noted that the flow of Japanese food exports destined for the EU is very small, with an annual turnover of 65 million euros in 2010. Japan sends on all fishery products and small amounts of other foods, for example, exports of fruits and vegetables to the 27 EU countries reached about 9,000 tons.

Vincent haindicado that in the event that any EU state to detect a possible risk of radioactivity it shall notify the SAR or other surveillance system managed by the management of Energy Commission. European countries are not the only ones to announce controls on food from Japan. Similar measures have been launched in South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Australia, countries which, unlike Europe, they also receive fresh products from Japan.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration has carried out some testing of products imported from Japan and Southeast Asia. The export of these productosdesde Japan remains a small trade flows, only 0.15% of gross domestic product of the archipelago, which receives 60% outside of their food.

And in these days when the country Japan has difficulty in obtaining supplies and its fleet of vessels has been decimated by the tsunami, international trade has collapsed completely. One of the greatest dangers to contaminated food comes from cesium-137, produced in nuclear fission reactions.

This element accumulates in the muscles of the animal and plant leaves and takes about 30 years to halve the quantity. The Minister of Environment, Rosa Aguilar, said today that Spain "has enabled singled controls" to food products from Japan to verify their radioactivity and has appealed to the tranquility of citizens.

"The public should know there is a special watch" Japanese food reaching customs, Aguilar said as the entrance to the Council of Ministers of Agriculture of the European Union. The minister explained that the Spanish Government has implemented the recommendation made by the European Commission, who asked radioactivity controls food products in Japan, the threat of nuclear plant in Fukushima.

"The products coming from Japan are uniquely looked" stressed the head of the Environment. He added that although the amount of Japanese food exports to the EU is small, "the issue is not volume, but are watched" every one of the products from that country, to ensure safety.

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