Inspection Order System

When the examination of the document and information on the sanitary situation of the exporting country, the nature of the food and related items, or the record of incompliance of the similar items in the past, indicates that the concerned food, etc. is highly suspected to violate with the Food Sanitation Law, the inspection order will be issued by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare and the import procedure will be suspended until the compliance of the concerned food, etc. is proved. This system is called "Inspection Order System" and the importer is responsible for the cost of the inspection.

The items that are subject for this system are designated in the cabinet order, and detail of each item is specified every year.

Monitoring Inspection System

"Monitoring inspections" are carried out at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Quarantine Station for the food and related items that are unlikely to be incompliance with the Food Sanitation Law. Every year, the monitoring inspection system designates the items subject for the monitoring inspections based on the annual import amount and the record of incompliance in the past for each item.

The purpose of the monitoring inspection system is to collect information data on sanitation statuses of the diverse food items that are brought to Japan as well as to promote the smooth distribution of these items. While MHLW food sanitation supervisors carry out sample inspections, the import procedures can be forwarded without waiting for the inspection results.

Other Inspection Systems

In addition to monitoring inspections, MHLW food sanitation inspectors conduct other kinds of inspections, such as inspections for the food and related items that are imported first time to Japan, inspections to examine the items that are incompliance with the Food Sanitation Law, and inspections to examine the food and related items that have experienced an accident during transportation.

Also, in some occasions of a first-time import or regular import, the MHLW quarantine station requires the importers to conduct an inspection of the cargo on some necessary items, based on the idea that importers also have the obligation to secure the food sanitation and safety.