AVA halts more Japan food imports

Singapore suspended food imports of fruit and vegetables from more Japanese prefectures on Saturday after “radioactive contaminants” were found in two new food samples from the disaster-hit country. The announcement means imports of fruit and vegetables from the entire Kanto region, a large area including greater Tokyo, are banned to the city-state.

“Radioactive contaminants have been detected in another two samples of vegetables from Japan,” the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), the country’s food regulator, said in a statement. “In view of the latest developments, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority will extend its suspension on the import of fruits and vegetables to include the prefectures of Kanagawa, Tokyo and Saitama,” it said. The AVA said radioactive contaminants were detected in cabbage samples from Kanagawa and in leek samples from Tokyo that reached the city-state on Friday and Saturday.

“This means the entire Kanto region of Japan is now suspended from exporting fruits and vegetables to Singapore as AVA had earlier suspended the Kanto prefectures of Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba,” the AVA said. A global food scare is spreading as a result of severe damage to a nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture following the March 11 quake and tsunami that have left more than 27,000 dead and missing in northeastern Japan.

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