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Supervision and Guidance with Regard to Food Additives

When food manufacturing businesses use food additives, they must fully understand their usage standards to prevent non-conformity.
Additionally, when importing foods, they need to fully confirm the use of additives, taking into consideration the additive licensing conditions and so forth, both in Japan and in overseas countries.
In Tokyo, based on the basic idea of minimum use of food additives, Food Sanitation Inspectors from Public Health Centers and the Institute of Public Health visit food manufacturers and retailers to investigate the actual use of food additives, and to examine whether the additives are correctly indicated, and if necessary, perform sampling tests.

What Food Additive Inspections check for?

1. Usage standards are being met for those food additives for which usage standards have been defined.

2. Whether food additives that are not permitted in Japan are used.

If it is found, as a result of an inspection, that any usage standard is not met, or that any non-designated additive is used, the Food Sanitation Inspectors take measures such as the collection and disposal of the foods, as a violation of the Food Sanitation Act.
In FY 2002, Inspectors continuously collected foods using non-designated additives, including: frozen foods from which TBHQ was detected; sauces using polysorbates; and aroma chemicals containing n-propanol and n-butanol.  These incidents were caused by insufficient knowledge of the Food Sanitation Act by food manufacturers and importers.

Framework for Inspections of Food Additives, etc. by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government

Public Health Centers and the Institute of Public Health in Tokyo perform chemical examinations of additives, etc.

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Food additives