[Analytical Methods for Residual Compositional Substances of Agricultural Chemicals, Feed Additives, and Veterinary Drugs in Foods].

Pesticides, veterinary drugs, and feed additives (hereinafter referred to as "pesticides") can remain in foods when used in agricultural and livestock products. Since consuming a variety of foods every day can result in ingesting trace amounts of these pesticides, which may be harmful to health, risk management for residual pesticides in foods is necessary to prevent adverse effects. Based on the Food Sanitation Act, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has established maximum residue limits (MRLs) for each pesticide and each food type. Currently, approximately 770 pesticides have MRLs set. Since May 2006, Japan has implemented a positive list system, prohibiting the distribution of food containing residual pesticides exceeding the MRLs or uniform limit of 0.01 ppm for pesticides without established MRLs. Appropriate analytical methods are required to determine whether pesticides exceed the MRLs or uniform limit. Currently, MHLW has notified ten simultaneous analytical methods and approximately 350 individual analytical methods. However, many pesticides still lack developed analytical methods. These methods should be simple, quick, and accurate, but developing them is challenging. The National Institute of Health Sciences, in cooperation with local health institutes, registered conformity assessment bodies, and universities, is working on developing these analytical methods. This lecture introduces an overview and the challenges of analytical methods for detecting residual pesticides.