Awwal 01, 1432 H/April 05, 2011, SPA -- The European Union is set to lower the radiation levels it allows in food from earthquake-damaged Japan to match the Asian country's stricter guidelines, dpa quoted European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso as announcing on Tuesday. "This is a purely precautionary measure," Barroso said. "All the checks carried out up to now by member states of Japanese food imports demonstrate negligible levels of radioactivity which are significantly below current European or Japanese standards." The EU had moved on March 25 to sharpen its controls on food and animal feed imports from Japan, amid growing concerns that major problems at the quake and tsunami-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant were leading to radiation contamination. Member states at the time agreed to have all food and feed stemming from the 12 most affected prefectures tested consistently by Japanese authorities and randomly by EU officials. Products from Japan's remaining 35 prefectures are also undergoing random EU tests. EU officials have repeatedly defended the measures as adequate and stressed that Japanese food imports to the bloc are minimal. But they have been dogged by questions on whether the radiation levels being tested for in Europe - which were set in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster - are low enough. "We have to decide these issues based on scientific evidence," Barroso said. "It's also a matter of compatibility. So that there are not standard differences, we have decided that on a transitional basis, we are going to implement the (higher) standards of Japan." The changed norms are to be implemented next week, Barroso said. The commission, working with scientific experts, will then review whether the Chernobyl-era radiation testing levels are adequate, with the analysis due to be completed by June 30.
