India today said Japan is sharing all information regarding nuclear radiation and it has the mechanism to take care of goods coming from the tsunami-hit country.
"I think what is coming particularly is food articles and all. I can say that despite the terrible tragedy that has been fall on Japan, their institutions are efficient and they are sharing all information with other countries that includes India," Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said here.
With radiation scare spreading across Asia following blasts in nuclear reactors in Japan due to last week's earthquake and tsunami, India is keeping a close watch on food items imported from the island nation.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) chairman P I Suvarathan had said: "We are currently watching the situation as a part of the surveillance, though we have not taken a call yet to ban any of the food items."
Sharma said that the country has all the mechanism to deal with such situations.
"Whatever steps are required, we have inbuilt institutional mechanism to address these issues," he said.
While India does not import primary food items from Japan, processed foods, sea food, oil seeds and seeds of vegetables such as cauliflower and cabbage come from there, a commerce ministry official said.
Besides, fruits such as citrus along with diary products, confectionery items, tobacco products also come from Japan.
As per international media reports, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines will test Japanese food imports for radiation.
FSSAI in India as been set up under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, as a statutory body to establish scientific standards on food quality and safety.
On the issues of disruption in shipping lines between India and Japan, the minister said that because of the tsunami and earthquake the movement of ships could be affected.
"It is one of the worst natural disaster. Naturally systems will get affected," he added.
He also said that industry community would do the assessment of impact of the Japan's situation on India's trade and investment.
Sharma said that there has been some damage but Japan has the capability to soon recover soon from the tragedy.
He said that CII is preparing an internal document to asses the impact, which would be discussed both by the government and industry.