Japan's food self-sufficiency ratio for FY2011 was 39% on a calorie basis (MAFF, Aug. 2012), slowly declining continuously over decades. The modern Japanese diet relies heavily on the import of a large quantity of food from overseas. In light of the situation of imported foods, the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW) introduced the positive list system in 2006 and started to reinforce the import inspections such as residual agricultural chemical monitoring. Given the above, import tolerances are critical for both Japanese society and exporting countries, especially the US, China, Australia, Thailand, and Canada. This presentation will include the import tolerance requirements, such as scientific data and legal status in exporting countries, and pesticide registration process, focusing on how the import tolerances are approved in Japan. Potential challenges in the regulatory process for import tolerances in Japan will also be discussed.

Import tolerance approval process in Japan

246th National Meeting (2013)

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