Minister of Food and Drug Safety Inspects East Sea Seafood Testing Site: "Ensuring No Radiation Concerns"

Oh Yu-kyung, Commissioner of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety [Photo by Yonhap News]

Oh Yu-kyung, Commissioner of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, visited the inspection site for imported seafood on the 30th and emphasized, "To ensure that the public does not have concerns about the safety of seafood, thorough on-site inspections such as viability tests and radiation inspections must be conducted at the import customs clearance stage."

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Commissioner Oh visited the Gangneung Imported Food Inspection Office of the Seoul Regional Food and Drug Administration, the gateway for seafood from the East Sea, and the bonded warehouse under its jurisdiction to inspect the imported seafood inspection site. The ministry explained that this visit was arranged to check the safety management status at the customs clearance stage of imported seafood, including the radiation inspection process, amid growing public concerns about radiation safety management of seafood.

Last month, Commissioner Oh also visited the Gamcheon Port Seafood Market in Busan to inspect the safety management system for imported seafood and stated, "We will conduct thorough inspections according to principles and procedures to ensure that the public does not have concerns about the radiation safety of seafood."

Since September 9, 2013, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has banned the import of all seafood from Fukushima, Japan, and eight neighboring prefectures. For seafood from other regions of Japan, radiation tests are conducted for each import declaration. The ministry emphasized that if radiation is detected even in trace amounts (within the standard limits), an 'additional radionuclide certificate' is required, effectively preventing radiation-contaminated Japanese food from entering the country.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.