Exclusive: US military begins Japan seafood purchases to counter China ban

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

October 30, 2023 3:53 AM EDT


TOKYO, Oct 30 (Reuters) - The United States has for the first time begun buying Japanese seafood to supply its military there, a response to China's ban on such products imposed after Tokyo released treated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.

Unveiling the initiative in a Reuters interview on Monday, U.S. ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said Washington should also look more broadly into how it could help offset China's ban that he said was part of its "economic wars". China, which had been the biggest buyer of Japanese seafood, says its ban is due to food safety fears.

The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog vouched for the safety of the water release that began in August from the plant wrecked by a 2011 tsunami. G7 trade ministers on Sunday called for the immediate repeal of bans on Japanese food. "It's going to be a long-term contract between the U.S. armed forces and the fisheries and co-ops here in Japan," Emanuel said.

"The best way we have proven in all the instances to kind of wear out China's economic coercion is come to the aid and assistance of the targeted country or industry," he said. The first purchase involves just shy of a metric ton of scallops, a tiny fraction of more than 100,000 tons of scallops that Japan exported to mainland China last year.


Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us-military-begins-japan-seafood-purchases-counter-china-ban-2023-10-30/

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Begging the question:

Is the seafood and fish safe to eat, notwithstanding the politics?

[BumRushDaShow]

2. There are standard test methods for seafood (including shellfish)

including for histamines and I expect heavy metals, etc., so as long as it passes those examinations, then it should be okay.

[Irish_Dem]

4. "Should" is the word that concerns me.

[peppertree]

7. Incredible.

Last edited Mon Oct 30, 2023, 10:42 AM - Edit history (1)

Who came up with that idea? Or did someone bribe the guy.

Farce News must be having a field day.

[ramen]

10. The concern is the radiation, I think,

though that can also be tested for.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. Most of the shipping ports and airports

have equipment to test for all sorts of things including radiation. A lot of that was the result of 9/11 and the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002, specifically -

TITLE III--PROTECTING SAFETY AND SECURITY OF FOOD AND DRUG SUPPLY

Subtitle A--Protection of Food Supply

Sec. 301. Food safety and security strategy.
Sec. 302. Protection against adulteration of food.
Sec. 303. Administrative detention.
Sec. 304. Debarment for repeated or serious food import violations.
Sec. 305. Registration of food facilities.
Sec. 306. Maintenance and inspection of records for foods.
Sec. 307. Prior notice of imported food shipments.
Sec. 308. Authority to mark articles refused admission into United
States.
Sec. 309. Prohibition against port shopping.
Sec. 310. Notices to States regarding imported food.
Sec. 311. Grants to States for inspections.
Sec. 312. Surveillance and information grants and authorities.
Sec. 313. Surveillance of zoonotic diseases.
Sec. 314. Authority to commission other Federal officials to conduct
inspections.
Sec. 315. Rule of construction.

and

Subtitle C--General Provisions Relating to Upgrade of Agricultural
Security

Sec. 331. Expansion of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
activities.
Sec. 332. Expansion of Food Safety Inspection Service activities.
Sec. 333. Biosecurity upgrades at the Department of Agriculture.
Sec. 334. Agricultural biosecurity.
Sec. 335. Agricultural bioterrorism research and development.
Sec. 336. Animal enterprise terrorism penalties.

And there have been subsequent amendments to this over the past couple decades.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. I never buy food of any kind from China

Cheap manufactured items are a different kettle of fish, to apply an old sketchy phrase

I just don't trust the level of corruption in China. Not with food.

[tanyev]

5. Yeah, seems ironic for China to be that concerned about food safety.

Food safety is probably the excuse for other reasons.

[David__77]

6. That is both hilarious and sad

The military often gets the shit end of the stick.

[moonshinegnomie]

8. i would have no problem eating japanese seafood

i dont buy into the fukushima histeria

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

14. Me neither

Any radiation has been diluted to the point that you get more exposure from your phone. It is, after all emitting radiation when it links to towers and wifi, and we keep them right next to our skin so there's no distance attenuation. That 'lol' txt you just sent went thru your cranium, you know. Yet folks won't really understand how minuscule the amount released vs the ocean. Folks imagine a sort of pool where the water stays in that area and that's not how waves and currents work.

Hey! Might be some 'specials' at Red Lobster in a week, folks! Come for the fish, stay for the biscuits!

[Bayard]

9. Make sure there's no whale meat in those shipments

[enid602]

12. Fishstickd

Can you say ‘Camp Lejeune Fishsticks?’

[TheBlackAdder]

13. Around Fukushima minnows grow to be 14 feet.

Here's a picture of a common box turtle.