Japan food import requirements for exporters and importers

Japan food import rules require an MHLW food import notification for each shipment for sale or business use, before customs clearance ends. Quarantine-station inspectors check compliance with the Food Sanitation Act (MHLW import procedure).

MHLW is the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Separate agriculture ministry (MAFF) quarantine rules apply to regulated plant and animal products. This page covers food going into Japan. It doesn't cover US rules for importing Japanese food into the United States.

The food import notification

Article 27 of the Food Sanitation Act says a person who intends to import food, additives, apparatus, or containers and packaging for sale or for use in business must notify the Minister "on a case-by-case basis". In practice that means every shipment. The duty also covers infant toys, according to the MHLW imported food FAQ.

The notification goes to one of 32 quarantine-station food monitoring desks across Japan (MHLW imported food FAQ). You file it with the station that covers the port of entry. Paper filing uses the 食品等輸入届出書 form (MHLW). Electronic filing runs through FAINS, a free subsystem of NACCS, Japan's customs computer system. Setting it up takes a JASTPRO code (a small fee, renewed every 3 years), NACCS sign-up and FAINS registration at the quarantine station (Kansai Airport Quarantine Station guide).

According to the MHLW import procedure page, inspectors check:

• exporting country, manufacturer and place of manufacture
• ingredients and manufacturing method
• additives used

A compliant shipment gets a certificate of notification. A non-compliant one can't be imported.

First time? Each main quarantine station has an imported food consultation office (輸入食品相談指導室) that will look at your product before it ships (MHLW, Tokyo Quarantine Station). It gives advice. It doesn't pre-approve anything.

Who can be the Japan food importer

The Act doesn't say the importer has to be a Japanese company. Article 27 just says "a person who intends to import" (Food Sanitation Act). Japan Customs adds a practical limit. A person living abroad who wants to make import declarations must appoint a Customs Procedure Agent (税関事務管理人) with an address or residence in Japan and notify the customs office before clearance (Japan Customs). The agent attends inspections, pays duties and handles customs documents. The current rule took effect on 1 October 2023.

Under Article 26 the importer must undergo and pay for ordered tests, and can't import or sell the goods until results arrive. Article 3 calls on food businesses to work to keep supplier records. Article 58 requires reporting qualifying recalls (Food Sanitation Act).

You can sell to a Japanese food importer that handles the notification and takes on the importer's duties. Non-resident customs clearance through an agent is a separate arrangement. Before using it, ask the quarantine station who will file your MHLW notification.

Inspections at the border

Japan runs three kinds of checks: monitoring inspections, inspection orders and administrative inspections. Administrative inspections cover an importer's first shipment of a food, foods where exporting-country hygiene control matters, a transport accident, and other cases that need a look (FY2026 plan). The first two differ in who pays and whether goods can be released before results (MHLW FAQ):

Monitoring follows a yearly plan. The fiscal 2026 Imported Foods Monitoring and Guidance Plan covers 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. Schedule 1 sets 100,338 specimens, including 10,000 for enhanced inspection. Quarantine stations also instruct importers to run their own tests on a first import.

Inspection orders hit foods with a high likelihood of violation, and every shipment gets tested. An order may be lifted after 2 years with no new violation, or after 1 year with more than 300 clean specimens (FY2026 plan). New orders in 2026 include Indian sorghum (8 May), Indian moringa pods (16 July), sesame from Côte d'Ivoire (13 August) and sesame from Togo (28 August) (MHLW). Under Article 9, Japan can also ban imports from a country, region or producer with frequent violations.

If a shipment fails before clearance, the importer destroys it, ships it back or diverts it to non-food use. After clearance, local governments order a recall (FY2026 plan).

How often shipments fail

In fiscal 2025 Japan received about 2.53 million food import notifications covering about 32.28 million tonnes. It ran 214,030 inspections, and 791 notifications were found in violation and shipped back or destroyed, up from 731 the year before (MHLW, 28 August 2026). The most common causes were microbiological standards, additives, pesticide residues and toxic substances such as aflatoxin (summary PDF).

MHLW publishes monthly violation lists (an English version exists). Recent ones read like a checklist of what to test for: sodium benzoate in pickles where it isn't permitted, coliforms in Italian ice milk, the unapproved color azorubine in a Spanish liqueur, chlorpyrifos at 0.02 ppm in Indian chickpea flour, and polypropylene boxes that failed a migration test.

Japan food safety standards your product must meet

Since 1 April 2024 the Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) sets Japan's food sanitation standards. MHLW and its quarantine stations still run import checks (MHLW). The main rules below cite the official English translation of the Food Sanitation Act, which reflects the 2018 amendments:

• Additives must be permitted in Japan. This includes designated additives and grandfathered "existing additives", with exceptions for natural flavorings and ordinary foods used as additives. Check the permitted foods and use limits for each additive. Sorbic acid, for example, is allowed only in listed foods (MHLW FAQ).
• Residues: the positive list system generally applies a 0.01 ppm limit where no specific Japanese limit exists (MHLW). Check the substance's limits and exemptions on the CAA residue page.
• Composition and safety: food that fails compositional, manufacturing or use standards can't be imported (Article 13). Spoiled or toxic food, food contaminated with pathogens and food carrying foreign matter is banned (Article 6).
• Certificates: meat, milk and organs of livestock, and poultry meat, need a health certificate from the exporting government (Article 10). HACCP-designated foods must come from recognized countries or facilities (Article 11). The 2018 amendment added sanitary certificates for dairy and fishery products.
• Packaging: containers and packaging must meet Japanese standards (Article 18), including a positive list for synthetic resins.

Labeling imported food in Japanese

Labels fall under the Food Labeling Act (Act No. 70 of 2013), run by the CAA. Imported products must show the country of origin (CAA Q&A). The importer's name and address replace the manufacturer's, shown as "輸入者" (CAA example). Labels must be in Japanese. For imports, that applies once the importer sells to another business in Japan (CAA Food Labeling Standard Q&A, revised 28 March 2025).

Plant and animal quarantine (MAFF)

Commercial meat needs both the MHLW notification and MAFF animal quarantine. Regulated animal products, including meat, organs, eggs and commercial dairy shipments, need a government inspection certificate from the exporting country (MAFF Animal Quarantine Service). Some 2026 changes:

• From 1 July 2026, certain factory-made cup or pouch instant foods that need only hot water are excluded from animal quarantine (MAFF).
• From 1 October 2026, emus and emu products come under quarantine (MAFF).

Fresh fruit, vegetables, grains and seeds need a phytosanitary certificate and an import inspection, whatever the amount. Soil is banned, and some produce is banned by origin (MAFF Plant Protection Station). Processed tea, plants preserved in sugar, salt, vinegar or alcohol, some dried fruits and dried spices sealed in retail containers are outside plant quarantine (MAFF).

Can you bring food into Japan?

Yes, for personal use, with limits. Food in your luggage for your own use needs no MHLW notification (MHLW FAQ). Trade samples or stock in your bag count as business use and do need one.

Quarantine still applies to travelers. MAFF says you're "generally prohibited from bringing even small amounts of meat products into Japan" (MAFF FAQ). That includes jerky, ham, sausages and meat buns, even vacuum-packed or bought at a duty-free shop. Since 1 July 2020 the penalty is a custodial sentence of up to 3 years or a fine of up to 3 million yen (up to 50 million yen for businesses) (MAFF). Fresh fruit and vegetables need a phytosanitary certificate too (MAFF Plant Protection Station).

Japan food customs allowances don't override quarantine restrictions. Travelers aged 20 or over can bring 3 bottles of alcohol (760 ml each) duty free. Other goods must total under ¥200,000 in overseas market value. Items under ¥10,000 each are not counted in that total (Japan Customs). All passengers must declare their belongings. Japan Customs recommends Visit Japan Web (Japan Customs).

To check a specific product against these rules with the source documents linked, see RegAffairs AI's answer on exporting food to Japan.