Food imported into the country does not contain radiation as none had been rejected from entering, Dewan Rakyat was told today. Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said the ministry did not receive requests on irradiated food from exporters except from one Australian company.

“Only one company from Australia had applied to export irradiated mangoes to Malaysia,” he said in reply to a question by Fuziah Salleh (PKR-Kuantan). Fuziah wanted to know whether there were cases of imported food containing radiation detected after scanning by the ministry. Dr Latiff said all imported food had to be declared to the Health Ministry and Customs Department by providing documents and food samples. For irradiated food, importers had to comply with section 396(2) of the Food Regulation 1985 where food meant for the irradiation process had to be approved by the director-general of health.

“Under section 396(2), importers have to meet three conditions namely to apply for permits from the Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Ministry, label them and issue certificates from the countries of origin,” he said.
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