In the US, where the cultivation of GM crops is expanding, the proportion of GM varieties cultivated has reached the extremely high level of 93% for maize, 94% for soybean, and 96% for cotton. Canadian canola has also reached the level of 95% GM varieties. Heavily dependent on North America for food imports, the amounts of GM foods that find their way to Japanese dinner tables continue to increase. Due to the diversification of trade partners for the importation of maize and soybeans in recent years, however, the ratio of GMOs in maize imports has fallen. (See table below.)
| Proportion of GM Crops Consumed at Japanese Dinner Tables, Unit: % |
| | Planted Ratio | Import Ratio | Self-Sufficiency Rate | Proportion on Dinner Tables |
| Maize | US | 93 | 44.8 | 0 | 73.6 |
| Brazil | 68 | 30.4 |
| Argentine | 85 | 13.3 |
| Soybean | US | 94 | 60.1 | 6.4 | 84.3 |
| Brazil | 88 | 23.5 |
| Canada | 94 | 13.7 |
| Canola | Canada | 95 | 93.8 | 0 | 89.1 |
| Cotton seed | Australia | 99.5 | 94.6 | 0 | 94.1 |
* Planted ratio: Proportion of GM crops in total planted area. Source: US and Canada, ISAAA Annual Report: 2014, The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA). Others, ISAAA Annual Report: 2013 (ISAAA).
* Import ratio: Proportion of the crop in the total imports of the crop into Japan. Source: Ministry of Finance Trade Statistics, 2013.
* Self-sufficiency rate: Japanfs self-sufficiency rate of the crop. Source: Former Research Office of Shoichi Ito, Agricultural Policy, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Graduate School, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, 2013.
On 6 February 2015, the herbicide glysophate (the main ingredient of Roundup) having been detected at 5ppm, exceeding the 2ppm standard, in chickpeas and their processed foods produced in India at the Yokohama quarantine station, MHLW issued an inspection order. In India, as glyphosate is expensive it is hardly ever used in cases other than the cultivation of GM crops. It is thought that the expansion of cultivation of GM cotton has given rise to this contamination.
The University of Tokyo and Hayashibara Co., Ltd. contravene Cartagena laws
On 23 January 2015, MEXT announced two cases of contravention of the Cartagena laws. Both organizations have been issued strong written warnings. On 27 November 2014, at the Yayoi Campus of the University of Tokyo, a vessel holding culture solution containing GM microorganisms leaked after being broken during transportation. On 1 October 2014, the Hayashibara Co., Ltd. disposed of test reagents possibly containing GM microorganisms without performing the inactivation treatment. Upon further detailed investigation, it was found that similar cases where the inactivation treatment had not been performed had occurred nine times.
