Taiwan officially allows imports of Japanese food from nuclear disaster affected areas

Taiwan has officially allowed the imports of Japanese food and agricultural products from areas affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, according to a notice issued by the island's food and drug administration on Feb. 21.

The move came after the island's executive authority announced in early February that it would lift the 10-year ban by the end of this month, indicating that food imports from five prefectures in Japan -- Fukushima and neighboring Gunma, Chiba, Ibaraki, and Tochigi -- would be permitted to enter Taiwan.

Despite the lifting of the import ban, certain restrictions will remain in place. Mushrooms, wild bird and other wild animal meat and a Japanese vegetable known as "koshiabura" from the five prefectures, as well as other items from the affected areas that cannot be sold in other parts of Japan, will continue to be prohibited from entering Taiwan.

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

The import ban was imposed by 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.