The government officials in Taiwan announced that the Republic of China will lift the ban on food imports from five prefectures in Japan affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster – Fukushima, where the disaster occurred, and neighboring Gunma, Chiba, Ibaraki, and Tochigi.

Taiwan imposed an import ban in late March 2011 for food safety reasons in the wake of a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

According to Taiwan‘s executive authority, the country will be ending an import ban that has been in place for 11 years and allowing imports of Japanese food from Fukushima-affected areas by the end of February, but some restrictions will remain.

Mushrooms, the meat of wild birds and other wild animals, and a Japanese vegetable known as “koshiabura” from the five prefectures and other items from those areas that cannot be sold in other parts of Japan will still not be allowed into Taiwan.

For all other food imports from Fukushima, Gunma, Chiba, Ibaraki, and Tochigi, Taiwan will mandate batch-by-batch border inspections and require certificates of origin and radiation inspection certificates.

The move to ease the ban on the imports of Japanese foods from the areas affected by Fukushima nuclear disaster to Taiwan has caused some complaints from the country’s opposition parties.