Report Highlights:
Japan will implement new regulations on May 29, 2006 for residues of agricultural chemicals in food. Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) established provisional Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) for 758 agricultural chemicals, in addition to existing MRLs, and a uniform limit of 0.01 ppm for residues not on the list. After the implementation of the positive list regulation, foods containing residues exceeding the MRLs on the list, or 0.01 ppm in cases where there are no MRLs established, will be prohibited in Japan. With these new regulations, MHLW will not change its monitoring plan for imported foods, except that each sample will be tested for more residues. The same number of samples will be taken and there will be no new documentation or data requirements from MHLW after the implementation, however some importers are asking for additional information.
Executive Summary
On May 29, 2006 Japan will implement new regulations on residues of agricultural chemicals, feed additives and veterinary drugs (hereinafter referred to as agricultural chemicals) in food..To implement the new regulation, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) announced the provisional MRLs for 758 agricultural chemicals on November 29, 2005, in addition to around 10,000 existing official MRLs. Those new provisional MRLs will remain “provisional” until they are reviewed.After a risk assessment of a provisional MRL is completed, an official MRL can be established. Together the existing MRls and the provisional MRls make up the “positive list”.After the implementation date, foods containing residues exceeding the MRL levels on the positive list will be regarded as violations of the Food Sanitation Law and will be prohibited from being sold or used as food in Japan.MHLW established a uniform limit of 0.01 ppm, which will be the maximum allowable limit for combinations of chemicals and commodities that have no official or provisional MRLs.MHLW also listed 15 chemicals for which no residues may be detected because of high human health risks, and 65 substances used as agricultural chemicals for exemption from the regulation.MHLW established provisional MRLs on some processed foods besides raw commodities, mainly by adopting the Codex standards.For residues in processed foods without provisional MRLs, MHLW will use the provisional MRLs of raw ingredients after converting them based on water content and taking into consideration concentration ratios.With these new regulations, MHLW will not change its monitoring plan for imported foods, except that each sample will be tested for more residues. The same number of samples, however, will be taken and there will be no new documentation or data requirements from MHLW after the implementation.