Turning schoolyards and golf courses into sweet potato fields… The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is “serious” about the issue of food self-sufficiency and is considering a “potato-centered” diet.

Growth Hormones” Banned in EU, China, and Russia; Japan, Where Inspections Are “Zaru”…

Apart from the risk of not being able to import products due to climate and political conditions, there are also problems with imports. Some imports use growth hormones and fungicide.

American pig producers feed their pigs a feed additive called ractopamine to speed up growth and increase lean meat. Ractopamine is banned in the EU, China, and Russia for domestic use and import because of its toxic effects on the human body.

The use of ractopamine has not been approved in Japan either, but inspections of imported meat are mostly zero-level.

The same is true for beef; the EU has banned the importation of beef that has been treated with growth hormone, but the beef that has been treated is exported to Japan, where meat imports are inspected by monkeys.

This is not the time to be happy that cheap beef is now coming into Japan.

Wheat, potatoes, and fruits are also not safe. Exported products are treated with post-harvest fungicide, a pesticide banned in Japan, to prevent mold growth during the long journey by ship.

Imported products carry that risk.

What should we do?

We should just not eat them. Bread, for example, should be made from domestic wheat, and processed foods should be purchased after checking the label on the product to see if it is made from domestic agricultural products, not just “domestically produced. If possible, buy from farmers who are working hard near where you live, or from a reliable co-op that provides safe products, or from other places where you can be sure of safety and security. The government cannot stop such consumer behavior. It is important to take action so that we can eat safe food.

Nobuhiro Suzuki Professor, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo. Born in 1958, he has been working for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries for 15 years. Born in 1958, he worked for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries for 15 years before entering academia. After serving as an associate professor at the Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, and a professor at the Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Kyushu University, he was appointed to his current position in September 2006. From 1998 to the summer of 2010, he was a visiting assistant professor and professor at Cornell University. His major books include “Nogyo nihonai: Nou seisaku no hatsuwa ga mimamete kokka suru no kiki” (Agricultural Extinction: Agricultural Policy Failure Leads to National Crisis) (Heibonsha Shinsho, 2009), “Shoku no Senso: Amerika no Tsumei ni Nakaeru Nihon” (Food Wars: Japan Falling into the Trap of the United States) (Bunshun Shinsho, 2001), and “Sekai no Soraeru wa Nihon” (The First to Starve in the World: Japan) (Kodansha + Alpha Shinsho).