健康・医療Imported Food Safety

　Japanese food self-sufficiency rate is about 40%. Foods are imported from various countries. To ensure the safety of import foods, the MHLW monitors and inspects them at the quarantine stations located at 32 international airports and seaports.
　Based on the Imported Foods Monitoring and Guidance Plan, the MHLW carries out inspection of imported foods at the quarantine stations to verify their compliance with the Food Sanitation Act. When violation of the regulation is detected, proper measures are taken for the relevant products, including disposal or shipping back of the items to the country of origin.

　To ensure the safety of imported foods and related products, Article 27 of the Food Sanitation Act obliges importers to submit import notification. As Article 27 of the Food Sanitation Act states that "Those who wish to import food, food additives, apparatuses, or container/packages for sale or for use in business, shall notify the Minister of Health, Labour, and Welfare on each occasion as prescribed by the Ministerial Ordinance," the imported foods and related products must not be used for sale without import notification.

　The purpose of the Imported Foods Monitoring and Guidance Plan is to promote the intensive, effective and efficient monitoring and guidance over imported foods, and thereby to further ensure the safety of imported foods.

　Inspection Order means an order that requires importers to have imported foods with a high risk of violating the Food Sanitation Act inspected on each importation of the foods in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 2 or 3, Article 26 of the Act.

• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016

　Monitoring Inspection means inspections systematically implemented every fiscal year for the purposes of monitoring safety conditions of various foods in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 1, Article 28 of the Food Sanitation Act and of introducing necessary measures such as strengthened inspections on importation in the case of any violation of the Act.

• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016

• Guidelines on Hygiene Control of Import Processed Foods (PDF:78KB)
• Relevant Information (Japanese)

　Recent Cases of Violation of the Food Sanitation Act that were Found on the Occasion of Import Notification.

• ▶Summary(PDF:64KB)
• ▶List
• *If you want to change this lists, please contact the government of your country or the embassy of your country in Japan for more information.
• ▶Minimum Preferably Required Information in Test Certificates Issued by Foreign Official Laboratories (PDF:51KB)