Taiwan to lift import ban on Japanese food

TAIPEI -- Taiwan will allow imports of Japanese food from areas affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster by the end of February, said the island's executive authority at a press briefing on Tuesday, ending an import ban that has been in place for 11 years.

Taiwan will lift the ban on food imports from five prefectures in Japan - Fukushima, where the disaster occurred, and neighboring Gunma, Chiba, Ibaraki, and Tochigi, but some restrictions will remain, the authority said.

Mushrooms, the meat of wild birds and other wild animals, and a Japanese vegetable known as "koshiabura" from the five prefectures and other items from those areas that cannot be sold in other parts of Japan will still not be allowed into Taiwan.

For all other food imports from the five prefectures, Taiwan will mandate batch-by-batch border inspections and require certificates of origin and radiation inspection certificates, added the authority.

The import ban was imposed in Taiwan in late March 2011 for food safety reasons in the wake of a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

The move to ease the banning of Japanese food imports in Taiwan has triggered growing anger among the public and opposition parties.