A1. To prevent contaminated alcohol from being imported into Taiwan, the MOF has conducted lot-to-lot inspection on imported alcohol from 5 prefectures of Japan including Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi, and Chiba since the nuclear incident of March 2011. The MOF has entrusted the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research of Atomic Energy Council under the Executive Yuan to conduct radiation detection. Only alcohol which is in compliance with the “Standards for the Tolerance of Atomic Dust and Radioactivity Contamination in Foods” stipulated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, is allowed to be imported.
A2. The majority of countries such as the USA and EU members has lifted any specific control measures on importing alcohol from nuclear affected areas in Japan. Some countries such as Korea and Russia have requested importers to provide a certificate of radiation detection. However, Taiwan has not accepted foreign inspection reports, but has adopted the lot-to-lot inspection measure by the NTA, which is more rigorous than that of other countries.
A3. The MOF has entrusted the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research of Atomic Energy Council under the Executive Yuan to conduct radiation detection. The radiation detection is conducted by Gamma Spectrum which analyzes artificial nuclear species iodine-131, cesium-134, and cesium-137. Regarding Article 2 of the “Standards for the Tolerance of Atomic Dust and Radioactivity Contamination in Foods” which was amended and published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare on January 18, 2016, the tolerances of iodine-131 and sum of cesium-134 and cesium-137 in soft drinks and bottled water were 100Bq/kg and 10Bq/kg, respectively.