Maximum Residue Limits for Agricultural Chemicals (Pesticides), Feed
Additives and Veterinary Drugs in Food
MHLW has designated certain substances having similar properties to food additives which are used as
ingredients of pesticide products for agriculture and fishery as those which are unlikely to cause damage to human
health and outside the positive list system.
The Food Sanitation Act defines food additives as those which are used during food processing of agricultural and
fishery produce after the harvest. Therefore, substances used before harvest would fall within the category of
Agricultural Chemicals, Feed Additives or Veterinary Drugs without any exception.
The uniform base limit, which is set at 0.01ppm as the amount unlikely to cause damage to human health shall
not be applied to these substances. Those substances are listed below.
The English information is available from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare website:
http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/topics/foodsafety/positivelist060228/index.html
List of the substances designated as having no potential to cause damage to human health
(MHLW Notification No. 498, 2005: Latest Revision Notification No.334, 2009)