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The Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) of the Government of Japan (GOJ) convened a meeting of the “Food Sanitation Standards Council, Newly Developed Food Investigation Committee” on February 21, 2025, to discuss the establishment of food safety standards for cell cultured foods.

In October 2024, the Government of Japan (GOJ) added a genome edited potato to the list of genome edited products not subject to regulations for genetically engineered food and feed.

This report provides the latest status of consumption, regulation, public perception, research, development, production, government policy, and use of agricultural biotechnology in Japan. In general, Japan uses a science-based process for evaluating and granting approval for import and production of genetically engineered products.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) regulations allow the importation of biotech plant products, but they are required to be labeled if they contain more than one percent genetically engineered (GE) plant ingredients. As a result, many retail packaged food importers do not import biotech foods due to concerns that biotech labeling could jeopardize their image.

On September 19, 2024, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) of the Government of Japan (GOJ) announced the exemption of domestic field trial requirements for genetically engineered (GE) soybean with familiar trait.

On March 1, 2024, the Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) launched a greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction labeling system for 23 domestically-produced agricultural products.

The Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) of Japan proposed three sets of revisions. First, to Japan’s maximum residue levels for 16 agricultural chemicals (Cyflumetofen, Flometoquin, Pyribencarb, Quinofumelin, Fenitrothion, Sulfachlorpyridazine...

On Monday, June 24, 2024, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) of the Government of Japan (GOJ) opened a public comment period for its revision for domestic field trial requirements of genetically engineered (GE) crops.

This report provides the latest status of consumption, regulation, public perception, research, development, production, and use of agricultural biotechnology in Japan. In general, Japan uses a science-based process for evaluating and granting approval for import and production of genetically engineered products.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) regulations allow the importation of biotech plant products, but they are required to be labeled if they contain more than one percent genetically engineered (GE) plant ingredients.

On March 20, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW) and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) added a waxy corn product to their lists of genome edited products not subject to regulations for genetically engineered food, feed, and biodiversity.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) proposed default greenhouse gas (GHG) emission values for biomass feedstock eligible for the feed-in tariff and feed-in premium (FIT/FIP) programs for power generation.