News On Japan

Call for more strict glyphosate-use guidelines after Japan's honey warning

Jan 22 (rnz.co.nz) - Tough border testing for New Zealand honey imports to Japan is re-igniting the conversation about the use of the weed killer glypohsate in New Zealand.

MPI is now requiring all honey exports to Japan to undergo glyphosate testing, after Japanese officials warned they would stop importing honey if they continue to find glyphosate that exceeds their acceptable limit.

MPI food risk assessment manager at New Zealand Food Safety, Andrew Pearson, said there were no food safety concerns.

"A five-year-old child who was consuming honey with the default maximum residue level in New Zealand would need to eat roughly 230kg of honey every day for the rest of their life to reach the World Health Organisation acceptable daily intake for glyphosate," he said.

Apiculture New Zealand said most honey producers were already testing for glyphosate in their products.

Apiflora owner Steve Weenink who has been a beekeeper for 50 years, said the tough part is not the testing, but keeping bees away from glyphosate in the first place.

"The issue with glyphosate is it's a type of salt and the bees will work it even when it's not on a flower. I had a case where the guys sprayed on a farm last year and he got a little bit of manuka, and it wasn't much, but the glyphosate levels were very high," he said.

Another beekeeper and owner of Dansar Bees, Daniel Martin said he and other honey producers worked hard not to use chemicals near their hives, but contamination continued to be a problem.

"Honey bees forage over an area of at least 3km from the hive, so the area that they forage in we don't have any control over land users in the area," he said.

Weenink said farmers benefited from the bees, but it was beekeepers who bore the financial burden of glyphosate use.

He wanted better guidelines and regulations about its use, especially as the industry is already doing it tough from a downturn in the clover honey market.

"It's a difficult playing field out there and we don't want to lose the manuka. If we lost China and Japan, and it tends to snowball a bit, once one country finds out about residue limits someone else hops on the bandwagon. So, it could quite easily be a global thing very soon," he said.

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

A passenger car was captured speeding across the frame from left to right by a security camera just moments before a fatal crash in Iida City, Nagano Prefecture, that claimed the lives of four vocational school students.

A fire broke out on the evening of April 25th on an electronic billboard attached to the Yodobashi Camera commercial complex in front of JR Osaka Station, prompting a large emergency response. No injuries were reported.

Organic fluorine compounds known as PFAS—suspected to be harmful to human health—have been detected at concentrations exceeding the national provisional target in rivers and groundwater at 242 sites across 22 prefectures, according to a government survey.

The Japanese government will begin issuing blue tickets for bicycle traffic violations in April 2026, with fines including 5,000 yen for ignoring stop signs and up to 12,000 yen for riding while using a smartphone.

A 26-year-old woman was arrested in the early hours of April 24th in Kasuya Town, Fukuoka Prefecture, on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. While admitting to the offense, she claimed, "I ate chocolate that contained alcohol."

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Society NEWS

After 77 years, Tokyo is set to return blue skies to Nihonbashi as the city buries its expressways underground and reimagines its historic heart.

The Emperor and Empress attended the Greenery Ceremony, an annual event honoring researchers who have made outstanding contributions in fields such as plant and forest conservation.

Nearly three months after a road collapse in Yashio City, Saitama Prefecture, authorities are preparing to resume the search for the missing truck driver as early as next week.

The Japanese government will begin issuing blue tickets for bicycle traffic violations in April 2026, with fines including 5,000 yen for ignoring stop signs and up to 12,000 yen for riding while using a smartphone.

A woman’s body discovered in a freezer at a residence in Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture, is now believed to have been concealed there for approximately four and a half years, police announced.

A 26-year-old woman was arrested in the early hours of April 24th in Kasuya Town, Fukuoka Prefecture, on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. While admitting to the offense, she claimed, "I ate chocolate that contained alcohol."

A man who was charged with committing an act of abuse against his young daughter and distributing a video of the incident through a private social media group admitted to the allegations during his first court appearance.

A monkey walking upright on two legs was spotted in a residential area of Tokyo on April 23rd, drawing attention as it crossed a street in the rain before entering a nearby field and munching on crops.