Japanese food ban widens across Asia on radiation fears

Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore are the latest countries to ban food imports from areas near Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The ban will include dairy products, vegetables, fruits, meat and seafood.

They follow similar action from the US which also halted some food imports on Tuesday.

Japan's food producers are under pressure after a deadly earthquake caused radiation to leak from the power plant contaminating produce.

Both Australia and Singapore have banned agricultural food imports from the regions of Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki and Tochigi. Hong Kong has added another prefecture, Chiba, to its suspension list.

Australia's regulator, the Food Standards Australia New Zealand, said it was taking a precautionary measure that was consistent with approaches internationally.

Three UN agencies have issues a joint statement saying Japan had been taking the right actions.

"Food monitoring is being implemented, measurements of radioactivity in food are taking place, and the results are being communicated publicly," the International Atomic Energy Agency, the World Health Organisation, and the Food and Agriculture Organisation said.

Domestic worries

The bans on food imports from Japan into other countries come after shipments of certain food products from the Fukushima area were halted domestically as well.

The government has told people living in Fukushima not to eat 11 types of green leafy vegetable that are grown locally amid fears of radiation contamination.

Producers in the region have been asked to not send their goods to the market.

In the Ibaraki prefecture all shipments of milk and parsley have also been stopped.

"Unfortunately, as the situation is expected to last for the long term, we are asking that shipments stop at an early stage," said Japanese Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.

"It is desirable to avoid intake of the foods as much as possible."

Analysts say radiation fears are likely to hit domestic demand, as most agriculture produce from Japan is consumed within the country.

Export fears

Nonetheless, the effects of the earthquake and tsunami have thrown a shadow over Japan's exports.

Analysts expect a negative impact on export growth in the months to come.

The latest figures showed that exports had actually picked up in February.

Exports rose 9% in February from the same moth last year, according to the Ministry of Finance.

However those figures don't reflect the impact from the earthquake which hit on 11 March.

The expected slump in food exports on top of that in manufacturing could start to weigh on those trade numbers.

Damage from the earthquake has caused major exporters like Toyota and Honda to suspend production.