TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei Deputy Mayor Huang Shan-shan (黃珊珊) said on Tuesday (Feb. 8) that the city government will require vendors and supermarkets to keep food from Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture in specially labeled areas after the central government announced it will lift restrictions on food from the region.

Huang said the issue has been debated for a long time and that Taiwanese are psychologically ready to handle it, but she stressed that source management and clear labeling must not be compromised, according to a CNA report. Huang acknowledged the diplomatic significance of the issue for Taiwan yet said the government must ensure the population’s food safety concerns are taken care of.

Taiwan banned food from Fukushima and four other Japanese prefectures following the 2011 nuclear disaster.

Huang recalled traveling to Hokkaido in 2019 and seeing how supermarkets there labeled agricultural products by region. “If Japan can do it, why can’t we?” she asked.

She also pointed to the ractopamine pork issue, saying Taipei City had requested supermarkets set up a "non-ractopamine pork zone” to protect consumers’ freedom of choice. The same will be done with Fukushima food products, she indicated.

Huang criticized the central government for “doing whatever it wants while hitting the people with surprise attacks,” and she suggested Taiwan’s democracy still has a long way to go.