Malaysia's sushi chain drops Japanese imports on radiation concerns

Malaysia's largest sushi restaurant chain -- Sushi Kin announced on Friday that it has temporarily stopped importing raw food from Japan for fear over possible radioactive contamination.


The company's CEO Fumihiko Konishi said the company wanted to make sure that its customers consume safe food.


Sushi Kin imports 23 percent of their raw food from Japan -- mainly noodles, miso soup powder and tea powder.


He said the restaurant chain has sufficient frozen food stock for more than two months' consumption and that the operations will not be affected. They are now sourcing the materials from Thailand, China's Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia.


"Sushi Kin will resume imports from Japan when the situation returns to normal," said Konishi.


Radiation plume released by the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant in the quake-hit north of Japan sparked concerns worldwide.


Countries like Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Singapore and the Philippines have begun to screen food imports from Japan.


Quarantine authorities in Hong Kong -- the largest overseas market for Japanese food products and materials announced on Friday that it is not taking any risk and has stepped up radiation inspections for imports such as milk, vegetables and fruits.
(Source:http://news.xinhuanet.com)