Bahrain bans Japanese food items and need certificate

The Bahraini Industry and Commerce Ministry has issued a decision to the concerned organs at the aiprots and sea ports to impose a ban on import of goods and foodstuffs from Japan due to the nuclear pollution resulting the worst nuclear crisis at its nuclear plant in Fukushima. The decision issued by Bahraini Minister of Industry and Commerce dr. Hassan Fakhro stipulated that imports of food items and products are prohibited from Japan and from any country decided to World Health Organization (WHO) or the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or any party of other countries that identifies increasing radiation rates in its airspace and territory, until further notice. It is worth to mention that some items imported from states referred to are excluded as per the aforesaid decision which provided that the consignments are accompanied by an official certificate from the exporting officials confirming the safety and radiation levels within the permissible limits set internationally. Furthermore, imported items produced and prepared for shipment and exports to the Kingdom before the reactor accident of Fukushima are excluded from the decision before mid-March 2011 accompanied by certificates. The great earthquake in Japan on March 11 has caused major disasters in the nuclear reactors of Fukushima, where cooling control issues had occurred causing high pressure on the reactor, that led to a vent control resulted in an increase of radioactivity production. Meanwhile Health Ministry international health regulations officer Dr Muna Al Mousawi said that the food items from Japan are required to have a compulsory certificate from the exporter stating they are free from radioactive contamination. The new regulation has been in place at ports, where officials are only allowing consignments that have certificates stating they are safe or fit for consumption. "We are taking special measures when it comes to imported food items from Japan," she said. "There is no need to panic at this stage as the radioactive contaminated area in Japan is far away from Bahrain," she said adding, "But we do have goods imported that require to be free from any radiation." Dr Muna was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting by GCC environment experts over the impact of the nuclear crisis in Japan. She said it was not only products that have to be certified to be free from contamination, but vessel captains should also produce documents stating the crew and the ship was free from radioactive pollutants. Meanwhile officials are monitoring all foodstuffs at the Khalifa bin Salman Port and King Fahad Causeway. They said if food items were found to be contaminated with radioactive materials, the procedure in place was to send back the whole lot to the country of origin instead of disposing it off in Bahra. However, Oman, the UAE , US, China and other countries last month halted imports of some Japanese food products over radiation fears. It is worth to mention that the crisis at Fukushima Daiichi has had a wide-ranging impact on the Japanese economy and other Asian countries.