The governor of Tokyo has declared that the new site for the city's main food market is safe. The declaration by Yuriko Koike paves the way for the planned opening of the Toyosu market in October.

Koike told a meeting of senior Tokyo metropolitan officials on Tuesday that the new site for relocating the Tsukiji wholesale market now fulfills conditions for opening a safe market.

This comes after a panel of experts released the results of their assessment on Monday in which they confirmed that the new site is safe with possible future risks taken into account.

In 2016, Koike postponed the relocation of the aging Tsukiji market to the nearby water-front area of Toyosu, due to the possible presence of toxic substances in the ground. This led the metropolitan government to order additional safety measures.

The location had previously been occupied by a gas plant.

Operators of food businesses at the Tsukiji market have been asking Koike to declare the new site safe so as to ease consumers' concerns.

The Tokyo government plans to apply to the agriculture and fisheries minister soon for an approval for the relocation.

The new water-front market is scheduled to open on October 11th. It was originally slated to be moved in November 2016.

Source: ANNnewsCH