Abstract
The Japanese government's manual regarding to food safety policy incorporates the concept of “appropriate level of protection” (or “level of acceptable risk”) in the framework of food risk analysis, according to the FAO/WHO guidelines and the WTO/SPS regulations. However, when defining specific policies as to food safety (such as the establishment of standard limits for radioactive contaminants in food) and providing information to consumers, it is not clear whether the appropriate level of protection has established been. In other words, the appropriate level of protection is not necessarily given an active role in the real food safety policy of our country. Without a better definition of the terms, consumers will not accurately understand food risks and may be distrustful of the government in the future.
.The term, “appropriate level of protection” should definitely be adopted and utilized explicitly in Japan's food safety policy. The term should be explained to consumers for them to realize not only that the food safety measures are based on scientific evaluation, but also that the concept of “food safety” involves normative judgments. In addition, the definition of “food safety” should incorporate the “appropriate level of protection” so that the term “safe” means “relatively safe.” Furthermore, the definition of “appropriate level of protection” should be included in the Food Safety Basic Act.
