Japan Reviews Food Utensils, Containers and Packaging Regulation

Vol. 959 | 20 Apr 2017

On 17 March 2017, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) launched a consultation to review the regulations for food utensils, containers and packaging.

Currently, food utensils, containers and packaging are regulated under the Food Sanitation Law. The business operators shall, on their own responsibility, endeavor to ensure the food utensils, containers and packaging do not contain toxic or harmful substances as well as ensure the safety of raw materials used.

In view of the effective enforcement of the positive list system used in the European Union and the United States to regulate chemical substances used in food utensils, containers and packaging, the MHLW intends to introduce the same approach, and give higher priority to synthetic resins for the positive list system development.

Other than the EU and U.S. systems, the voluntary standards of Japanese trade organizations are also taken into account in the list of chemical substances development.

For more information, please contact:

John Wong
john.wong@intertek.com
852 3760 6310