OSLO: Whale meat imported into Japan from Norway has been dumped after tests found it contained up to twice the permitted level of harmful pesticide, the government said.
The announcement came after Western environmentalists first exposed the issue, in the latest salvo of a battle that pits Japan against many of its usual allies, such as Australia and New Zealand.
An official at Japan’s health ministry said whale meat was subject to extensive routine tests before and after import.
We conduct strict checking because whales tend to collect contaminants in the environment such as pesticides and heavy metals,” he said.
He added that tests on Norwegian whale meat imported in April showed 0.2 parts per million of aldrin and dieldrin combined, in addition to 0.07 ppm of chlordane. Meat that arrived in June was found to have 0.2 ppm of dieldrin.
Japan’s safety limits for the pesticides are 0.1 ppm for aldrin and dieldrin combined, and 0.05 ppm for chlordane, the official said.
In both cases the order was given for the contaminated meat to be abandoned, ministry data showed.
The official said such discoveries have not led to a halt or a scaling down of imports from Norway. He noted that imports from Norway have increased in recent years, but did not give detailed figures.
“There are very few countries where people still consume whale meat, so the food products are traded among those few countries,” he said.
Grethe Bynes from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority said in-country tests on whale meat showed “only low levels”.As we see it, it is safe to eat whale meat in Norway,” she said.
