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Departments, Offices, and Branch Laboratory
Departments, Offices, and Branch Laboratory
Department of Food Safety
| The Department of Food Safety consists of three divisions. It conducts chemical and nutritional examination on food, research, training, guidance, and information collection, analysis, and submission in order to ensure the safety of foods for Tokyo citizens. |  |
The Division of Food Hygiene and Nutrition conducts 1) examination of various foods such as milk and dairy products to see if their components conform to regulations established under the Food Sanitation Law (hereafter, "the Law"); 2) examination of nutrients and ingredients in health functional foods and special usage foods in accordance with the Law and the Health Promotion Law ; 3) examination of genetically modified foods and foods containing allergic substances that must be labeled under the Law; 4) examination of mycotoxins, endocrine disrupters, and radioactive contamination in food, and; 5) examination of food poisoning caused by natural poisons or chemical substances that occur in Tokyo, and investigation of complaints such as food that contained foreign substances. In performing these examinations, the Division develops analytical methods and researches on food safety using the method.
The Division of Food Additives conducts examinations on food additives in foods, food additives and their preparations, and food utensils, containers, and packaging material. All examinations are performed under the Food Sanitation Law, and they cover the standards used for additives, quality regulations for food additives, and regulations for food utensils, containers, and packaging material. The division works towards the development and improvement of convenient, highly precise methods of analyzing the additives in food. The Division is also involved in the development of analytical methods and usage surveys for non-permitted additives in imported foods and existing common additives (so-called natural additives). The Division also examines endocrine disrupters and other hazardous substances that are transferred to food from food utensils, containers, and packaging materials.
The Division of Food Contaminants conducts analysis of pesticides and medical supplies for animals (antibiotics, synthetic antibacterial medicines, anthelmintic drugs and growth promoters etc.) and dioxins in foods. The Division focuses these examinations particularly on ensuring the safety of imported agricultural products, livestock products, and marine products. In performing these examinations, the Division develops the analytical methods and conducts examinations such as situational surveys of these chemicals in foods in Tokyo. Furthermore, the Division examines daily intake of dioxins consumed from foods in order to provide data on the safety evaluation of diet among the Tokyo citizens.
| [Relationship with Tokyo citizens] The Department of Food Safety examines various foods that are distributed in Tokyo. Those foods are sampled by the Department of Regional Food and Pharmaceutical Safety Control in the Institute. The Department of Food Safety strives to remove inferior foods from the market. In order to prevent food-related accidents that may happen in the future, the Department collects and analyzes risk information on food safety from a wide range of sources in Japan and abroad, conducts preliminary examinations, and works based on such information. Thereby the Department ensures the safety of foods for Tokyo citizens.
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