According to the MHLW notification, 71 batches of food products imported from 23 countries/regions were found non-compliant in July 2021. Frozen food, fresh food and seasoning accounted for the majority of the overall rejection, representing 40.8%, 8.4% and 8.4% respectively. All these unqualified products were returned or destroyed.
The main reasons for the rejections include:
Microorganism contamination;
Detection of Aflatoxin;
Excessive pesticide residues.
Notably, among the 29 batches of rejected frozen food products, 26 batches products failed the import because of the excessive amounts of microorganisms, especially for coliforms and bacterial. The other 3 batches were rejected for excessive pesticide residues and lack of required documents.