Food Safety Records in Japan: Laws, Health Centre Inspections and HACCP

Japanese food safety records explained: the Food Sanitation Act, HACCP plans, health centre inspections, records, allergens and how digital records help.

2026-10-31 · Chef Hygiene

Do food businesses in Japan need food safety records? Yes. Since 1 June 2021 almost every food business in Japan, including small restaurants, must follow a written hygiene plan based on HACCP thinking, and must record and keep how hygiene was carried out. The public health centre (hokenjo) licenses and inspects restaurants. Japan has no national public hygiene grade. This page explains the Japanese rules, what inspectors look for, where businesses go wrong, and how digital records help.

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Every fact below comes from an official Japanese source, linked in the text and at the end. Where a number is Ministry guidance and not law, we say so. The laws and forms are in Japanese; the Chef Hygiene app works in Japanese.

The law: what every Japanese food business must do
Who inspects you, and how often
No national rating
The records inspectors ask for
Where businesses go wrong
By type of business
Why digital records help in Japan
How Chef Hygiene helps
A fair price, on purpose
Less paper
FAQ
Official sources

1. The law: what every Japanese food business must do

The main law. The Food Sanitation Act (食品衛生法), with its Cabinet Order and Enforcement Regulation. The revision that put HACCP-based hygiene management into the law has been fully in force since 1 June 2021. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) says it applies, in principle, to all food business operators (MHLW: HACCP-based hygiene management). Prefectures may add their own rules by ordinance.
A licence first. A restaurant needs a licence (飲食店営業許可) from its prefecture, or from its health-centre city or special ward (Food Sanitation Act, Articles 54 and 55). The licence is valid for at least 5 years, as the prefecture sets. A licence can be refused for 2 years after a conviction or a revocation (Food Sanitation Act, e-Gov).
A written hygiene plan. Every restaurant, whatever its size, may use the simplified "HACCP thinking" version (HACCPの考え方を取り入れた衛生管理). You must write a hygiene management plan and make sure staff know it, write procedures as needed, record and keep how hygiene was carried out, and check and review the plan (Enforcement Regulation, Article 66-2). In practice most small restaurants follow an industry handbook (手引書) that MHLW lists (MHLW: handbook list, Enforcement Regulation, e-Gov).
A Food Sanitation Supervisor. Every business appoints a Food Sanitation Supervisor (食品衛生責任者). This can be a cook, a dietitian or a similar qualified person, or someone who took the prefecture's course. The operator must respect the supervisor's advice (Enforcement Regulation, Appended Table 17).
Temperatures: law and guidance.
Law, for listed foods only: the food standards set storage limits such as 10°C or colder for meat and −15°C or colder for frozen foods. Fridges, freezers and heating equipment must have thermometers.
Guidance, not law: MHLW's Mass-Cooking Facility Hygiene Manual says to cook to a core of 75°C for at least 1 minute (shellfish such as oysters at risk of norovirus: 85 to 90°C for 90 seconds), keep cooked food at 65°C or hotter (or 10°C or colder), cool it to about 20°C within 30 minutes or about 10°C within 60 minutes, and serve it within 2 hours of cooking. The manual formally covers kitchens making 300 meals at once or 750 a day.
Reheating: we could not find an official reheating number. The small-restaurant handbook says to judge reheating by bubbling, look and temperature.
Staff health. Staff health is checked every day (for example diarrhoea, vomiting, fever, jaundice, infected cuts or skin), and the business decides who must stop work with food. Handlers must wear clean work clothes, keep nails short, wash hands after the toilet and after raw food, and cover wounds with waterproof dressings (Appended Table 17). Stool tests (検便) are required by law only when the public health centre directs them. Monthly tests are MHLW guidance for the 300-meal and 750-meal kitchens.
Pest control and water. Pest control at least twice a year, with the record kept 1 year. A private water supply is tested every year, with the certificate kept 1 year (Appended Table 17).
Allergens. Packaged food must show 9 allergens by law: egg, milk, wheat, shrimp, crab, buckwheat, peanut, walnut and, since 1 April 2026, cashew nut. These rules cover packaged food (Consumer Affairs Agency: allergy labelling). For restaurants and takeaways we found no legal duty to label dishes; telling customers is voluntary.

2. Who inspects you, and how often

The public health centre (保健所). It is run by the prefecture, the health-centre city or the special ward. Its food sanitation inspectors (食品衛生監視員) inspect licensed premises.
Orders. An inspector can order improvements. The prefecture can suspend the business or revoke the licence. A missing hygiene plan or missing records has no fine of its own, but it can lead to suspension or revocation (Food Sanitation Act, Article 60).
Fines, from the Act.
Up to ¥3,000,000 or 3 years in prison: selling unsafe food, ignoring an order, or running while suspended (Article 81).
Up to ¥2,000,000: breaking food or storage standards, running without a licence, or labelling breaches (Article 82).
Up to ¥1,000,000: breaking facility standards or an improvement order (Article 83).
Up to ¥500,000: refusing an inspection or giving false reports (Article 85).
A company can be fined up to ¥100,000,000 for the most serious offences (Article 88).
How often. We could not confirm an official national visit schedule, so we do not give one. Ask your public health centre.

3. No national rating

No grade. Japan has no national public hygiene grade and no grade on the door.
What this means for you. There is no score to improve. What matters is your licence, a plan that works, and records that show it. Good records show an inspector that your system runs every day, which helps you avoid orders, suspension or a revoked licence.

4. The records inspectors ask for

The law asks you to record and keep how hygiene was carried out. MHLW's listed handbook for small restaurants shows what that usually means:

A daily sheet, filled in at the end of the day.
Goods-in check of deliveries.
Fridge and freezer temperature (the handbook checks 10°C or colder and −15°C or colder).
Cross-contamination control: washing and disinfecting tools, and cleaning toilets.
Staff health, clothing and handwashing.
Cooking checks for the three menu groups in the handbook: food not heated, food heated and served hot, and food heated then cooled.
Pest control record (twice a year, kept 1 year).
Water test certificate, if you use a private supply.
Your Food Sanitation Supervisor and the hygiene plan itself.

How long to keep them. The law says to set the period "reasonably", based on how long the food is used or eaten (Enforcement Regulation, Article 66-2). The handbook advises about 1 year and showing the records to the inspector when asked. That 1 year is guidance, not a legal number. Pest control and water records have a 1-year period in the law.

There is no government records app. The handbooks give blank forms, and a paper or digital form is fine if it covers your plan.

5. Where businesses go wrong

Common record problems are easy to picture:

No written plan. Without one, the licence can be at risk.
Gaps. Days with no checks written down.
A plan that doesn't match the kitchen. A system on paper that staff do not follow.
Nothing written when a reading is out. A fridge above 10°C with no note about what was done.
Lost or damaged pages. Paper gets wet, greasy or thrown away.
No review. The plan has not been looked at since it was written.
Supervisor not appointed. Every business needs a Food Sanitation Supervisor.
Staff health not checked. The daily health check is part of the law.
Missing pest control or water records.

6. By type of business

The same Food Sanitation Act applies to every business, but the records you keep depend on what you do. Restaurants (飲食店営業), including cafés and school or hospital kitchens, are named in the rules for the simplified version of the plan. We could not confirm separate official rules for every type below, so ask your public health centre if you are unsure.

Restaurant: the licence, the daily sheet, cooking and hot-holding checks, cleaning, staff health, pest control.
Takeaway: the same as a restaurant, with extra care for food that cools while it travels.
Café: fridges and displays, cleaning, and staff health. Cafés fall under the restaurant licence rules.
Bakery: fridge checks for cream and filled goods, cleaning, and labels for packaged goods with the 9 allergens.
Dessert shop: fridge and freezer temperatures for desserts and ice cream, and allergen labels for packaged items.
Pub / bar / club: the same records as a restaurant for the food you serve.
Community hall / venue: we could not confirm a separate rule. Check with your public health centre whether a licence is needed for your events.
Corner shop / grocery: fridge and freezer checks, delivery checks, and the 9 allergens on packaged food you make. Some sellers of long-life packaged food are eased from the full plan, so check with your centre.
School / nursery kitchen: school kitchens are named with restaurants in the simplified rules. Kitchens making 300 meals at once or 750 a day fall under the Mass-Cooking Manual guidance, including retained samples and monthly stool tests. Very small non-commercial collective kitchens (about 20 meals or fewer) are outside the plan duty; confirm with your centre.
Caterer / food van: licences and local rules are set by the prefecture, so ask your centre; keep temperature records during transport and at the event.
Home kitchen business: a home kitchen that sells food to the public needs a licence too; ask your public health centre, because facility standards are set locally.

7. Why digital records help in Japan

Any form is fine. There is no government records app, and a paper or digital form is accepted if it covers your plan.
No gaps go unnoticed. A missed daily check shows up the same day, not at the next inspection.
Problems come with their fix. When a reading is out of range, the record can ask what you did about it.
Nothing is lost. No wet, greasy or missing pages.
Ready for the inspector. You can show everything at once, instead of looking for folders.
Every staff member can take part. Staff can record checks on a phone or tablet, in their own language.

8. How Chef Hygiene helps

Chef Hygiene follows the Japanese rules and MHLW guidance. What it does:

Daily checks for fridges, freezers, cooking, hot holding, cooling, cleaning and deliveries, with the time, the staff member's name and photos. Saved records cannot be changed; corrections are added as new records.
Your country's rules built in, such as the Japanese storage limits and MHLW guidance numbers, shown as law or guidance.
Food safety plan ("safe methods"). About 20 minutes: answer questions, check each method, sign it, set a review date and print it. Earlier versions are kept.
Ready for inspection? Checks your last 4 weeks of records the way an inspector would and shows how many are ready.
Inspector's visits log. Write down each visit: date, type and officer.
Practice inspection. A free walk round of about 10 minutes, with questions for your type of business, a likely result, and a "Put it right" list.
Allergen chart and labels. Every dish against the allergens, a staff view on the kitchen tablet, and labels for packed food.
Staff training records.
Inspector pack. Print all your records as one pack, or share them by secure link.
40 languages, including Japanese. Staff can use the app in their own language.

Chef Hygiene keeps your daily records. It does not license you, and it is not approved by MHLW, any public health centre or any Japanese authority.

9. A fair price, on purpose

Chef Hygiene costs about €2.99 a month per site (about €1.99 for bakeries, dessert shops and corner shops), shown in yen in your app store; unlimited staff, no contract, 14-day free trial.

We keep the price low on purpose. We want as many food businesses as possible, from a single food van to a busy restaurant, to keep good records and pass inspections.

10. Less paper

A paper diary means printed sheets every day. One daily sheet per kitchen is 365 sheets a year, before you count delivery forms, cleaning rotas and training records. Digital records mean no record books to buy and fewer printed forms to throw away. That is less paper and less waste, and nothing to store in a back office.

11. FAQ

Do I legally need food safety records in Japan?

Yes. Since 1 June 2021 you must have a written hygiene plan based on HACCP thinking, and record and keep how hygiene was carried out (Enforcement Regulation, Article 66-2).

Who inspects restaurants in Japan?

The public health centre (保健所) of the prefecture, health-centre city or special ward, using food sanitation inspectors.

Do I need a licence to open a restaurant?

Yes. A restaurant licence (飲食店営業許可) from the prefecture, health-centre city or special ward (Food Sanitation Act, Articles 54 and 55). It is valid for at least 5 years, as the prefecture sets.

Is there a hygiene rating in Japan?

No. Japan has no national public hygiene grade.

Do small restaurants need HACCP?

Yes, in a simplified form. Every restaurant uses "HACCP thinking": a written plan, records and a review. Most follow an MHLW-listed handbook.

Is there a handbook I can follow?

Yes. MHLW lists industry handbooks with blank forms. For small restaurants it lists the one by the Japan Food Hygiene Association.

How long must I keep my records?

The law says to set a reasonable period based on the food's use. The handbook advises about 1 year. That is guidance. Pest control and water records are kept 1 year by law.

Are digital food safety records accepted?

We found nothing that requires paper. The handbooks give blank forms, and a paper or digital form is fine if it covers your plan. Ask your public health centre if you are unsure.

What temperature must my fridge be?

For listed foods the law sets 10°C or colder for meat and −15°C or colder for frozen foods. The handbook uses 10°C and −15°C as the daily check.

What temperature should I cook food to?

MHLW guidance: core 75°C for at least 1 minute, and 85 to 90°C for 90 seconds for shellfish at risk of norovirus.

What temperature should hot food be kept at?

MHLW guidance: 65°C or hotter, or 10°C or colder, and serve within 2 hours of cooking.

How fast should I cool food?

MHLW guidance for large kitchens: about 20°C within 30 minutes or about 10°C within 60 minutes. The small-restaurant handbook example is 20°C or below within about 2 hours.

What is the Food Sanitation Supervisor?

A person every business appoints (食品衛生責任者): a cook, a dietitian or a similar qualified person, or someone who took the prefecture's course. The law asks the supervisor of a licensed business to try to attend refresher courses regularly; your centre sets how often.

Do staff need stool tests?

By law only when the public health centre directs them. Monthly tests are MHLW guidance for kitchens making 300 meals at once or 750 a day.

Can staff work when they are ill?

Staff health is checked every day. Your business decides who must stop work with food, for example with diarrhoea, vomiting, fever, jaundice or infected cuts.

Which allergens must be on packaged food?

Nine: egg, milk, wheat, shrimp, crab, buckwheat, peanut, walnut and cashew nut (since 1 April 2026).

Must restaurants list allergens?

We found no legal duty for restaurants. Telling customers what is in each dish is voluntary.

What happens if I break the rules?

An inspector can order improvements. The prefecture can suspend you or revoke your licence. Fines range from ¥500,000 to ¥3,000,000, and up to ¥100,000,000 for a company in the most serious cases.

How much does Chef Hygiene cost in Japan?

About €2.99 a month per site (about €1.99 for bakeries, dessert shops and corner shops), shown in yen in your app store; unlimited staff, no contract, 14-day free trial.

12. Official sources

Chef Hygiene keeps your Japanese food safety records ready for every inspection: