Global Reaction

Made-in-Japan label loses luster

By Li Yao and Shi Yingying (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-21 07:08

BEIJING / SHANGHAI - Supermarkets and Japanese restaurants in China have been distancing themselves from products imported from the nation since the earthquake-devastated country announced on Saturday that radiation levels found in spinach and milk produced near the crippled nuclear plant exceeded safe levels.

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An employee at an outlet of the Japan-invested department store and supermarket Ito Yokado in Beijing's Chaoyang district said spinach on the shelves was from local suppliers and made-in-Japan milk products had never been supplied to the Chinese market.

While a made-in-Japan label had, in the past, been a declaration of quality among fashionable young consumers, many retailers have been busy removing signs proclaiming items to have been imported from Japan.

The manager of a Japanese restaurant in Beijing's Chaoyang district said he had reassured diners that the restaurant used salmon imported from Norway and did not import food or ingredients from Japan.

And an employee from a Japanese restaurant in Guangzhou's Tianhe district, said the sale of sushi, salmon and other Japanese dishes had not been affected during the past week because all food and ingredients were local.

"We use Japanese cooking skills and hire Japanese chefs but we will use food products from China or those imported from other countries if Japanese food products are found tainted by nuclear radiation," she said.

The fact that Chinese ingredients were being used by many restaurants angered some consumers who felt they had been cheated in the past.

Jin Chen, a 26-year-old white-collar worker in Shanghai, said she was disappointed when she learned that seafood served at her favorite Japanese restaurant in Shanghai actually came from Dalian, Liaoning province or Norway.

"All the advertising in the past about serving authentic Japanese food was a lie," she said. "Now, I'm worried about food safety and also I feel cheated."

Tightened checks at borders have also been affecting some imports from Japan.

Ye Yuanyong, a staff member at a Japanese supermarket within GJ Japan Plaza in downtown Shanghai, said the supermarket's stocks of fresh fish, shrimp and crab had fallen because of tightened border inspections.

"We used to have seafood delivered every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but, since the Japanese earthquake, we only replenish the stock once a week," he said.

According to the Shanghai agriculture commission, the city does not import milk or spinach from Japan because of the high labor costs it would entail and the short shelf life of the products.

But fans of made-in-Japan products were still clamoring for their favorites.

Jiang Aifang, 48, who lived in Tokyo for more than 10 years before returning to Shanghai last week because of the earthquake, said she has faith in things that are made in Japan.

"Yesterday, I went to a Japanese convenience store to find the soy sauce I'm familiar with," she said.

The Shanghai entry-exit inspection and quarantine bureau has strengthened its checks of Japanese imports, including purified water, rice and marine products.

Li Qingxiang, deputy director of the exit-entry quarantine and inspection administration in Guangdong province, said no cases of food contaminated by nuclear radiation had been found so far. Li said the administration will continue its vigilant screening of food and other imports from Japan during the coming months.

The Chinese authorities said on Sunday that radiation leaks from Japan's tsunami-crippled nuclear plant would pose no threat to China's environment and the health of its citizens during the next three days.

The Beijing-based Regional Specialized Meteorological Center, which is affiliated to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Sunday morning that the leaks of radiation will not affect China because the ocean currents near Japan's Fukushima prefecture will mainly move in an easterly direction during the next three days.

China's Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Sunday morning that radiation levels monitored in 42 major cities and near the country's nuclear power plants remained normal.

Yu Zhuoping, former head of the Chinese delegation to the IAEA, told reporters on Saturday that the impact on China in the long term remained to be seen.

"Fukushima is a very long way from China. Even if a south or southeast wind blew radioactive material toward China, it would be highly diluted and would no longer be a threat to us," Yu said.

On a related note, Yu said that all nuclear facilities currently in operation in China were in good order and that nuclear power development should not be halted on account of the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Zheng Caixiong contributed to this story.