Food, Beverages, Kitchen Utensils, and Infants' Toys

Top PageImporting Regulated ItemsFood, Beverages, Kitchen Utensils, and Infants' Toyss

How to Import Food, Beverages, Kitchen Utensils, and Infants' Toys

Food Sanitation Act

Food, beverages, kitchen utensils, and infants' toys, and other products that can be taken into people's mouth are regulated by Food Sanitation Act in Japan. Non-resident companies/persons are not allowed to import these goods, and require Japanese importers to be consignees. Many items involve material or ingredient testing. Importers have to be liable for the products and show their company name and contact information on the food or product labels.

Food Importers Need Business Registration in Japan.

If you import food and other items regulated by Food Sanitation Act, you need Japanese importer's name and location information on the food import notification and product labels. Foreign company information is not acceptable for the sake of consumer safety, thus you need to find a Japanese partner to import such products on your behalf.

Food Import Flow

Items regulated by Food Sanitation Act are imported in the following manner.

Labeling

Food labels are very important for consumer safety.

Food and beverages have to come with labels stating ingredients, best-before dates, nutrition facts, and other information designated by Food Labeling Act. Food importers have the same responsibilities as manufacturers and have to show their names and contact information on the label.

Recycle marks are required to describe the materials of the containers and packages.

Food Label Example

Food Container Label Example

Recycle Marks

Expected Costs

Food Import Notification and Customs Handling Service :

50,000 ～300,000 JPY

Testing Costs : 20,000円～/substance

<PSE Act> Other Possible Concerning Laws

Juicers, coffee makers, blenders and other electric appliances with AC adapters are regulated by Electrical Appliances and Material Safety Act. Importers need to experience a long process over months and millions yen investment in order to clear this regulation. See this page for more details.

<PMD Act and Health Promoting Act> Other Possible Concerning Laws

You are not allowed to state any medical or health-promoting effects about dietary supplements and other health food which have been imported as simple foods. In order to state such effects, you will need to submit clinical proofs and obtain approval from the applicable authorities subject to PMD Act or Health Promoting Act.

It's also important to note that some ingredients are only allowed to be used in pharmaceutical products.

Please visit this page to learn more about PMD Act.

Management of Best-Before Date

FBA (Fulfilment By Amazon) has special requirement for sellers of items that has best-before or expiration dates. Learn more about this here or contact Seller Central.