2 Food Safety Basic Law
The Food Safety Basic Law established in 2003 has fundamentally changed the legal system for food safety in Japan. The principle of the law is very similar to the EU regulation of 2002 ((REGULATION (EC) No 178/2002 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety).
This law introduced the method of risk analysis recently elaborated in the EU, the USA and the Codex Commission, and established the Food Safety Commission which independently performs the risk assessments. This law is based on three main principles; “protection of consumers”, “measures based on science” and “from farms to tables”. Several related laws were amended in 2003, according to the principle of “from farms to tables,” which means that measures should be taken in all stages of production and distribution of food and agricultural materials including feed, pesticides and veterinary drugs.
Like EU countries, this law was established, aimed at restoration of consumers’ confidence on food safety policy that was severely deteriorated by the incidence of BSE and cases of false labelling and other violations against laws. Stakeholders considered that the traditional legal system could not any more address well the food safety issue under the recent advanced technology and complexity of food production and distribution processes as well as the globalization of food trade.