Role of FAMIC in the securing of consumers′ confidence for the food

Abstract

FAMIC has as its mission:•To ensure the quality and safety of fertilizer, agricultural chemicals, animal feed and feed additives and soil improvement materials, and•To improve the quality and labeling of agricultural forestry and fishery products, by conducting inspections at various stages of food chain.As an incorporated administrative agency:•FAMIC undertakes its tasks in line with a 5-year strategic plan developed by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.•FAMIC′s performance is evaluated annually by the Evaluation Committees of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.To improve the quality of agricultural products and to rationalize production and consumption, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, in accordance with the JAS Law, sets JAS standards for foods and wood products for quality purposes. Agricultural products that meet these standards are entitled to have a JAS label. FAMIC develops new analytical methods and validate JAS analytical methods, while JAS standards are revised.FAMIC purchases food samples from the market for laboratory analysis to assure proper labeling of food, e.g.: •Geographic origin of production; •Types of ingredients used (species and breed varieties of animals or plants) ; •Proportion of ingredients used (buckwheat flour vs. wheat flour in buck wheat noodles) ; •Absence of genetically modified organisms.Should any doubt arise as a result of laboratory analysis, FAMIC conducts on-site inspections of manufacturers with MAFF officials., FAMIC, for example, use simultaneous measurement of multi-element by ICP-MS or ICP-AES to verify the geographic origin of agricultural products, and DNA sequence analysis using PCR techniques to identify different species.For development of analysis methods, FAMIC is involved in research to develop and improve methods used for analysis of food in order to identify geographic origin, different species, proportion of ingredients used, etc, in collaboration with other research institutes, such as national institutes, universities.Today, we present three researches which are conducted by FAMIC.