NZ not halting Japanese food imports

New Zealand is not following the United States and Australian in ordering a halt to Japanese food imports, such as sauces and seaweed, amid rising radiation concerns, the Food and Safety Authority says.
Authority officials met this morning and decided there was not going to be any change in New Zealand's position on Japanese food imports, FSA spokesman David Crowe told NZPA.
``We haven't had any clarification from Australia yet as to what prompted them to go to the level of halting imports of Japanese food products over there.
``Our position is we are still monitoring the situation and based on the information that is available today, we have not identified any food import from Japan that would cause us any alarm.''
The authority was in constant contact with counterparts in other countries over irradiated food products although New Zealand did not import as much from Japan as did the US, Australia and Europe, Mr Crowe said.
Radiation leaks at the Fukushima nuclear power plant caused by a tsunami triggered by the March 11 earthquake had contaminated food products such as milk and vegetables, and high levels of radioactive iodine and caesium were also measured close to water discharge points at the Fukushima plant.
The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service yesterday implemented a holding order on all foods from the Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures, AAP reported.
Their major production is in milk, milk products, fresh fruit and vegetables, and both fresh and frozen seaweed and seafood.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) said the holding order was only a precaution, given Australia did not import any milk or fresh food from Japan. The risk of irradiated food arriving from Japan was negligible.
Australia's main imports are sauces and seaweed products.
The move is in line with the United States, which restricted some dairy and vegetable imports earlier yesterday.
Europe is being urged to do the same, while Japan itself has stopped some of its own food exports from areas surrounding the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Tests have revealed vastly elevated levels of radioactive iodine and caesium.
But Australians have been given the go-ahead to buy Japanese foods currently on the shelves, given they were imported before the earthquake and tsunami.
A spokeswoman from the federal government's health department told AAP the holding order was indefinite.
She said FSANZ would continue to liaise with the relevant agencies, including AQIS, Australia's nuclear agency Arpansa and Customs, and would monitor foods from the affected prefectures.