(ECNS) -- Authorities in East China's Zhejiang province clarified on Tuesday that they had found no soy sauce imported from Japan's radiation-hit areas present in the region.
Alarmed by the news that over 100 tons of such products had been confiscated in Taiwan, Hangzhou media conducted their own investigations and uncovered suspicious items at both large-scale shopping malls and street-side snack stalls.
A Japanese-imported soy sauce at a high-end mall was found to carry a Chinese label stating its place of origin as Japan, while the Japanese label itself displayed Chiba as the origin, one of the 10 prefectures from which China bans food imports, Hangzhou Daily reported.
Several kinds of snacks from small shops also carried concealed Japanese labels stating the place of production being Niigata, another blacklisted prefecture.
However, an investigation revealed the soy sauce in question is not produced in Chiba, only that its manufacturer registration prefecture is in the area, Zhejiang Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau said.
Certificates of origin further showed that actual production occurred in Hyogo prefecture, not listed as banned, according to the bureau.
After the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis, caused by a giant earthquake in Japan, China's State Administration for Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine banned food and agriculture products as well as fodder imports from ten radiation-stricken Japanese prefectures.
Taiwan authorities have since sent the seized products to the Atomic Energy Council for testing to determine safety levels.
