“I have immediately instructed the secretary for environment and ecology and relevant departments to kick off import control measures at once,” he said.
The ban will apply to the prefectures of Tokyo, Fukushima, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, covering all fresh, frozen, chilled, dried or processed seafood, as well as sea salt and seaweed.
Current restrictions requiring radiation certificates for certain food imports from Fukushima, Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki and Tochigi will remain in place.
Details of the ban would be gazetted on Wednesday and the bureau would hold a press conference explaining how it would be implemented, Tse added.
Tokyo plans to release more than 1 million metric tonnes, equivalent to 500 Olympic swimming pools, of treated radioactive water over 30 years. The water contains tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that cannot be removed by the filtering process, sparking concerns over the long-term effect on ocean food chains.
Japanese authorities said the discharge was in line with international safety standards and the impact on human health and the environment was negligible.
Mainland China, which already bans seafood imports from 10 Japanese prefectures, has also criticised the discharge plan.
Japan has said it will start releasing treated nuclear waste water into the ocean on Thursday. Photo: AP
Asked how long Hong Kong’s ban would last, the minister did not provide a timeline but said the government planned to release a daily report detailing the screening results of Japanese food imports. The report would also include the radiation levels of Hong Kong waters and locally caught seafood.
In mid-June, the Centre for Food Safety expanded its testing regime to all Japanese food imports and strengthened screening for seafood products.
“We will need to do a risk assessment and take precautionary measures … until we see the Japanese system produces satisfactory results,” Tse said. “Then we will relax the ban.”
The minister vowed the extra testing would not further delay customs clearance of other imported food from Japan, which currently took about three hours.
He stopped short of announcing any subsidies or aid for businesses affected by the ban but said authorities had been communicating with the industry to help them find alternative sources.
“The best way to help them is to ensure that all food sold in Hong Kong is safe, so consumers have the confidence to continue eating at restaurants,” he said.
But shoppers and diners in the city on Tuesday said they might reduce their Japanese seafood intake, following Tokyo’s announcement.
Accountant Ryan Sun, 25, who was at a sushi restaurant in Causeway Bay with his parents, said they decided to eat there after hearing the news about the planned discharge. They spent HK$700 (US$89) on the meal.
“We may stop eating Japanese seafood for one to two months to see if any test reports have been published to ensure safety,” he said. “We hope the results will be fine as we usually have Japanese meals a few times a week.”
A woman surnamed Ngai, who was shopping at City’super, said she came to the supermarket to buy salmon belly sashimi after hearing the news. She said she would not eat Japanese sashimi after the waste water was released.
“Though the substances in the waste water cannot be seen with the naked eye, we don’t know whether they will hurt our health in the long run,” she said.
A man who only gave his surname as Chow said he would reduce his sashimi intake from three times a week to just once. He said he would also discourage his 16-year-old daughter from eating seafood from the country.
“We will try to avoid buying seafood near Fukushima and instead opt for those from Hokkaido,” he said, while shopping at the Sogo department store.
Catering industry representatives said the government had given them ample time to secure alternative import sources ahead of the ban, but they were concerned consumer confidence could take months to recover.
Consumer confidence could take months to recover, catering industry representatives say. Photo: Reuters
They added that authorities had stepped up checks and stringent testing on Japanese seafood imports months ago.
“We are not worried about seafood prices increasing due to restricted supply, we are more concerned that Hongkongers will stop buying seafood because they’re scared,” said Lee Choi-wah, chairman of the Hong Kong Chamber of Seafood Merchants.
“With stricter testing and checks, we hope the government can restore consumer confidence that the food allowed into Hong Kong is safe for consumption.”
Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, said it could take as long as six months to a year for residents to begin eating seafood from Japan again.
“Both the Japanese and Hong Kong governments should be more transparent with their data,” he said.
