Consumers get to taste, buy Fukushima produce at overseas food fairs amid food safety concerns
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Visitors can gain knowledge about Fukushima products at the events, which are also aimed at curbing harmful rumours about food from the area.
PHOTO: REUTERS
TOKYO – The agricultural bounty of Japan’s Fukushima prefecture is being taken overseas, to places such as Singapore, Bangkok and London, to tantalise the taste buds of people there and to assure them of the safety of food from the region.
Fukushima-grown peaches, grapes and rice are among the products being promoted at these overseas events, which are aimed at dispelling rumours about the safety of food from the area.
The move follows the discharge of treated water from the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant. The first batch of diluted treated water was released on Aug 24. The second batch is slated for release on Thursday.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), which is decommissioning the power plant, is holding the events together with agricultural cooperatives in the prefecture.
Packed rice from Fukushima will be offered at the Oct 11-13 Food Japan event in Singapore, where a booth will be set up, along with a business meeting space to help expand distribution and sales channels. The public will be able to taste and buy food from the prefecture on Oct 13 at the trade show.
Before that, people in London would be able to have a taste of Fukushima produce in a one-day fair on Sunday in London’s Trafalgar Square, as well as Hokkaido scallops, which faced an embargo from China after the release of the treated water. The seafood will be cooked and served on the spot by staff from a Japanese restaurant.
In Bangkok, the promotional event began on Friday and runs through Oct 29, with Shine Muscat grapes on display at the Fukushima section of the food section of the luxury department store Siam Paragon.
These overseas events are operated under the name, Hakken! Fukushima. “Hakken” is Japanese for “discover”.
They started in August 2022 and have been held in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
Local Japanese restaurants have also participated in some events by having food products from Fukushima incorporated into their menus, and all have been well received, the organisers said.
“We would like to continue this project together with the people of Fukushima and the Fukushima prefectural associations in each country,” a Tepco official told The Japan News.
“In the future, we would like to have department stores in various countries set up shelves where Fukushima products are always available for purchase,” the official said. THE JAPAN NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
