On Tuesday, a chef of a Japanese restaurant in Hong Kong used a radiation monitor to show imported seafood sold in the restaurant was safe. However, starting from Thursday noon, all seafood produced after March 11 in five earthquake-affected Japanese prefectures will be banned from sale in Hong Kong, unless the Japanese authority issues a safety certificate for it. Edmond Tang / China Daily

Hong Kong will ban importation and sale of a number of foods produced in five Japanese prefectures after March 11, when earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency wreaked havoc on the northeast coast of the country.

The prohibition, which will come into force on Thursday at noon, includes milk, milk formula, vegetables and fruit from quake-affected Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma and Fukushima prefectures, while the import of meat, seafood, poultry and eggs are also prohibited unless the Japanese authority issues a safety certificate.

The ban was announced after imported turnips and spinach were detected as having unacceptable levels of radiation on Wednesday.

The contaminated vegetables have not gone into markets in Hong Kong, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department confirmed.

Parties that violate the prohibition will be fined up to HK$100,000 and be sent to prison for one year.

Japanese authorities also announced the detection of unacceptable levels of radiation in 11 types of vegetable produced in Fukushima.

Yukio Edano, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, has also confirmed contaminated water detected in Tokyo, and warned people not to use the water to mix milk formula for babies.

Experts have noted that babies are more susceptible to radiation than adults.

Both the Hong Kong Water Supplies Department and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department have confirmed no abnormalities in terms of radiation levels.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong Observatory moved to reassure the local community that the Japanese nuclear leak will have only limited influence on the city's seawater and air quality.

"Even if assuming that the worst possible outcome would happen, it will not be worse than the impact of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 on Hong Kong," said Leung Wing-mo, assistant director of Hong Kong Observatory, referring to the most catastrophic nuclear accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine.

Hong Kong detected a modicum of radiation that lasted for a few days after the Chernobyl disaster, and most citizens didn't even feel the influence, according to Leung.

Leung explained that while the trajectory of air had brought radioactive contaminant to Hong Kong at that time, the current trajectory of air near Fukushima is heading towards the northeast into the Pacific Ocean and will not reach Hong Kong in the coming few days.

"Therefore the Northern America and the Western Europe will probably be affected the most," said Leung.

The Icelandic authority announced Tuesday that a minute quantity of radiation had been detected.

The observatory forecast that the trajectory of air to reach Hong Kong on the next three days comes from northwestern China.

China Daily

(HK Edition 03/24/2011 page1)