《座長メッセージCHAIR MESSAGE》

東京大学大学院 農学生命科学研究科付属 食の安全研究センター 特任教授／
北里大学 獣医学部 教授／東京大学 名誉教授／日本学術会議 会員・吉川 泰弘

Yasuhiro YOSHIKAWA, PhD, Professor, School of Veterinary Medicine, Kitasato University,
Emeritus Professor, The University of Tokyo,
Member, Science Council of Japan○ Prof. Yoshikawa

the problem of securing food is bigger than that. I am

Hello. I’m Yasuhiro Yoshikawa and I will be serving as

sure that, during today’s talks, we will hear that thethe chair of this workshop. Currently, I mainly lecturerisk-control side is desperately grappling with livestock

about infectious disease control in classes at Kitasato

diseases on the front lines, including at farms, in an

University on zoonotic infections (referred to animal-

effort to secure worldwide food supplies. This is one ofderived infectious diseases by the Ministry of Health,the most essential roles played by veterinarians today.

Labour and Welfare). In my lectures, I talk on themesthat veterinary students need to know about, such as

Likewise, the BSE and radiation problems thatfood poisoning - including from livestock products -have emerged from the food safety department areand foodborne infectious diseases. These themes are

the definitive food safety issues. Almost ten years

related to the subjects that our three speakers will be

have passed since the Food Safety Commission

talking about later today.

was established, and almost half of the commission
personnel are veterinarians. They have taken on a new

When I am invited to lecture by the Cabinet Secretariat‘risk evaluation’ role and showing their capabilities inI often talk about food safety issues. Obviously, wherea new field. As well as food safety, there is also the lessthere is no food available, then food safety questions

familiar issue of food security. Food security cannot be

are meaningless. Today, I heard on a TV news reportachieved unless a food safety system is set up. Food

that there is a famine raging in Africa which has left

management controls are needed so that problems,

tens of millions of people begging for international foodsuch as the deliberate contamination of frozen Chinese

aid. Japan’s food self-sufficiency ratio is currently about

jiaozi with small amounts of agricultural chemicals,

40%, which means that, as a nation, we import 60%

can be prevented. But we don’t need food managementof the food we eat. We should be grateful that in oursystems to be based on a paranoid view of humancurrent times we are able to eat our fill due to imports.

nature as something fundamentally depraved with evil

However, this situation is not guaranteed to continue

individuals attempting to destroy established systems

indefinitely.

through biological or agricultural terrorism. In Japan,
we haven’t had the opportunity to come right out

Highly pathogenic infections such as avian influenza

and discuss such issues yet, but there are three major

and foot-and-mouth disease - topics which may comefactors regarding food issues. They are not all on theup during today’s talks - are not related to the issue ofsame level, but rather, we could say that these factors

whether specific foods are safe to eat or not. They areare on the first, second and third floors, respectively.

related to the more essential international veterinary170

issue of whether a sufficient amount of food can be

At the time when I was writing these thoughts down assafely secured or not. In Japan, we have tried to clear

part of my written introduction, I didn’t realize that weup this issue by simply saying that it is a matter ofhave deeply embraced a myth concerning safety, andwhether food is safe to eat or not. But on a global basisthat we repeatedly get into a panic whenever that mythりぶ・らぶ・あにまるず 神戸アニマルケア国際会議 2012

collapses. In order to break this cycle, I feel that thetime is approaching for consumers, the risk control sideand the evaluating side to take an equal measure ofresponsibility for the situation. So we will be discussing
this issue later, after the three speakers have finishedtheir presentations.
In today’s workshop, three individuals will address thetheme of food safety from the respective viewpoints
of upstream, downstream, and an organization that
objectively evaluates food safety.
So now, please let me introduce our first speaker, Mr.
Junichi Sakai of NOSAI Yamagata, who is going to talkabout “An Approach to Ensuring Safety at Livestock
Raising Sites.”

2nd Live Love Animals International Conference on Animal Care in Kobe 2012171