The Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) and the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MIFAFF) announced that they will impose tighter restrictions on cesium(134-137CS) in all food imports from Japan from the current allowable limit of 370Bq/kg to 100B starting in April.

Radioactive cesium level in Milk and dairy products from Japan will be set at stricter levels of 50Bq/kg and 10Bq/kg respectively.

This measure comes after the Japanese government's decision to tighten the limits for radioactive cesium in food from 1st April 2012, followed by the revised food standards. This is to block in advance the food products from Japan that exceeds allowable limits of radioactive cesium from entering the Korean market.

Since the nuclear power plant incident in Japan in March last year, KFDA and MIFAFF temporarily suspended imports of 20 food products from 7 prefectures, including spinach and mushrooms.

Food products with possible radioactive contamination from 13 prefectures are requested to submit certificate of origin and the test certificate issued by the Japanese government that proves the food products in question are not radioactive contaminated. The Korean government also has been carrying out radioactivity test on every imports, and newly established radioactive iodine limits for infant foods (100Bq/kg) and set tighter limits for the milk and dairy products (150Bg/kg to 100Bq/kg).