Food Industry

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) is promoting the introduction of cutting-edge technologies, such as robots, in manufacturing facilities, to improve the value added productivity of food manufacturing. However, there were no existing policies on introducing robots, etc., that could meet the sanitation management requirements of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), causing the introduction to be delayed.
As such, MAFF has formulated and released a set of guidelines that compile things to be aware of in order to sanitarily use robots and other cutting-edge technologies, in cooperation with relevant parties such as food manufacturers and food machinery manufacturers.

In order to achieve sustainable development of Japan’s food industry, it is necessary to practice sustainable management that appropriately incorporates responses to environmental and social issues into corporate management.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries promotes sustainable management in the food industry by providing the following documents and information.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries released the "Guidebook for Respecting Human Rights in Food Enterprises" in December 2023, to support the food enterprises to implement the requirements stated in the "Guidelines on Respecting Human Rights in Responsible Supply Chains(PDF：573 KB)” .  

The Ministry will continue its efforts to promote and raise awareness on business and human rights, particularly among food enterprises.

AFFriinovation is the initiations which "We intend to comprehensively and integrately promote the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries as a primary industry, the manufacturing industry as a secondary industry, and the retail business as a tertiary industry, and to generate new added value utilizing regional resources".

MAFF reclassified Nursing Care Food into the following three categories, and introduced a new mark system "Smile Care Food" for the dissemination of them.

As for the new coronavirus, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has posted a Q & A about food on its website for food handlers. According to this website, so far, there has been no reported case of new coronavirus transmission through food. As long as general hygiene management measures are implemented among food handlers, including physical conditions management and frequent hand washing, at each stage of production, distribution, cooking, and sales, there is no need to be concerned about food-borne infection.

For this reason, we kindly ask business establishments handling agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and food products to be mindful of this instruction, continue to implement the general hygiene management measures, and make decisions in each individual case whether you should continue the operation or not. In cases where you cannot make confident decisions, please consult a public health center and take appropriate measures.

In addition, please refrain from imposing unreasonable transaction conditions on suppliers.