Following the Japanese government's decision to begin dumping nuclear-contaminated water into the sea on Thursday, the government of China's Macao Special Administration Region (SAR) stated on Wednesday that it would prohibit the import of food from the country's ten prefectures and regions of Japan.

The decision was revealed in a Chief Executive (CE) order published in the official gazette of the Macao SAR government and will take effect on Thursday.

The restriction will apply to the import of live and fresh food items, animal food products, sea salt and seaweed, as well as vegetables, fruits, milk and milk products, aquatic goods and their derivatives, meat and meat products, and poultry eggs, among other products.

The ban affects products from 10 prefectures and regions, namely Fukushima, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano, Saitama and the Tokyo Metropolis.

The Macao Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) has been in close touch with China's General Administration of Customs and Gongbei Customs and has developed a notification mechanism with Hong Kong's Center of Food Safety.

This year, the IAM has increased its monitoring of radioactive chemicals in imported Japanese food at both the import and retail levels, with testing for specific radionuclides included as a normal food safety test item.

While the IAM will continue to strengthen import checks and retail store inspections, it developed a special food safety webpage on nuclear testing on Wednesday.

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