3.2.3 Regulations in Japan
On 29 May 2006, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) established a positive list system for agricultural chemicals remaining in foods, including cocoa, as part of the implementation of its Food Sanitation Law. The MRL list is available on https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/topics/foodsafety/.
A number of samples were found to have excessive residue levels and shipments have been rejected over the years. The high rejection rate has been attributed to the method of analysis used, which was different to that used by other importing countries, but is now being harmonised (see section 3.5).
