As of December 2002, Japan’s
Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW), which is
responsible for granting food safety approvals for biotech
products, had approved 44 biotech varieties for food use.
Legislation was introduced in 2000 to prevent the import of
products for food use which contain biotech varieties which are
not yet approved in Japan. To enforce this legislation, MHLW
routinely samples and tests imported foodstuffs at ports of
entry. Their testing has focused on biotech products which are
in commercial production abroad, but not yet approved in Japan.
Foods found to contain unapproved biotech varieties must be
re-exported, destroyed or diverted to non-food use. As a result
of this testing and tests of retail food products by local
government authorities, one unapproved biotech variety of
potatoes, two instances of unapproved biotech papayas, and one
incident of StarLink corn commingled with food-use corn have
been discovered.
The Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) is responsible for environmental
safety approvals, feed safety approvals and biotech labeling for
foods. On April 1, 2001, MAFF established a labeling scheme
under the Japan Agricultural Standards (JAS) which requires
labeling for biotech food products if the biotech DNA or protein
can be scientifically detected in the finished foods. Biotech
advisory labels for the 30 products covered under this program
are mandatory if the biotech content exceeds 5%. MHLW also plays
a role in enforcing labeling standards under the Food Sanitation
Law, but their standards are practically the same as MAFF’s
Japan Agricultural Standards. In order for a product to be
labeled "Non-GM", certification must be provided to show that
the ingredients were handled on an "identity-preserved" (IP)
basis at each step of the production and distribution process.
The full report in PDF format is
at
http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200301/145785045.pdf
