The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is restricting imports of certain foods from Japan, but has stopped short of an outright ban.
The restrictions come amid the ongoing crisis near the Fukushima nuclear facility, which has been releasing radioactive steam and smoke.
The CFIA announced Wednesday that imports of milk products, vegetables and fruit from Japan's main island of Honshu must come with official documentation that guarantees they are free from contamination.
Food from Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures is covered by the policy, which may be expanded or adjusted as the situation develops, the agency said.
It noted that any improperly documented food from those areas will be disposed of using Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission protocols.
The restrictions are not as stiff as the ban announced this week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The U.S. regulator said milk products and produce from four areas will now be detained at the American border and will be prevented from entering the country.
The FDA also said it would begin radiation screening of any food and feed shipments from the affected area in Japan.
On Wednesday, Hong Kong went further, announcing a comprehensive ban, effective Thursday, on milk, vegetables, meat and seafood harvested from or processed or packaged from an even larger area surrounding Japan's nuclear reactors.
Meat and seafood can be exempted from the ban if Japan can prove the radiation levels do not exceed international safety standards, Hong Kong's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said
While Canada's restrictions are not as sever, the CFIA said it believes the measures are adequate.
"The CFIA will continue to work closely with Japan, other trading partners and international organizations… to ensure the Canadian food supply remains protected," said a release issued Wednesday.
"The CFIA recognizes that the government of Japan is taking steps to address this issue and we will continue to provide support to their efforts."
Other government partners, such as the Canadian Border Services Agency, are also helping to monitor the situation.
While new imports have become a concern, the CFIA has assured consumers not to worry about any products from Japan currently on store shelves in Canada. Those items would have been shipped long before the earthquake and therefore would not have been affected by radiation.
And since the earthquake and tsunami destroyed many parts of the food exporting infrastructure in Japan, most food exports from the areas near the Fukushima nuclear plant have already been halted.
Canada imports very little food from Japan. Food shipments from the country make up less than 0.3 per cent of the food entering Canada, the CFIA says. The products include green tea, scallops and sauces.
Very little fresh fruit or vegetables are imported from Japan into Canada.
While there are legitimate worries that radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant will drift out to the ocean and possibly contaminate sea life, experts say there are no fish that migrate from Japan to Canadian waters.
Anne Trudel, manager of environmental health and safety at Vancouver's TRIUMF nuclear physics lab, points out that plenty of food in Canada already contains a small amount of naturally occurring radiation.
Bananas, for example, are naturally radioactive, because they contain potassium-40, or 40K, which is radioactive. Avocados and Brazil nuts too are naturally radioactive. But the amount of radiation that can be detected in these foods is nowhere near enough to pose a health hazard.
"We can detect potassium-40 in your banana, in your avocado, and we don't worry about eating bananas and avocados," she told CTV B.C.
