Japanese eateries plan to cut prices

Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong hit by nuclear contamination fears plan to cut prices and ask the government to provide safety certificates for food imported from Japan in a bid to stay afloat.

Since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima nuclear plant, the city's 600 Japanese restaurants have lost an average 20 per cent in revenue, said Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades.

Yiu Yat-chun of the Saikou Japanese Restaurant in Central said that since the earthquake, sales were down by half as customers knew that they mostly imported from Japan. 'It is hard to lure people back now. We will probably offer discounts and do some promotions on how safe our food is,' he said. They would also state clearly on the menu where the ingredients came from.

Traces of radiation linked to the nuclear plant have been found in rainwater in the United States and Britain, but officials say the levels are too low to pose any danger to health.

Wong has asked the government to issue certificates for products that have passed radiation tests. He said he received a verbal promise from Centre for Food Safety controller Dr Constance Chan Hon-yee to do so.

He hoped the certificates would be issued to importers to pass down the supply chain. 'Maybe restaurants can post these certificates on their walls,' he said.