Allergen Labeling Becomes Mandatory for 9 Items: Cashew Nuts Added to Japan’s Food Labeling Rules

Packaged and boxed food sold at supermarkets and convenience stores in Japan carries small print on the back: ingredients, additives, the foods that can cause allergic reactions (allergens), a consume-by or best-before date, and the origin of the raw materials. How this is written is set by law, and in April 2026 cashew nuts were added to the allergens that must be labeled, bringing the total to 9 items.

Below is based on the text of the Food Labeling Standards (a Cabinet Office ordinance; e-Gov Japanese Law Search) and guidance from the Consumer Affairs Agency, which oversees them, as of September 2026. This article explains how to read the labeling and where the labeling obligation applies. It does not judge whether a given food is safe to eat, or what a person with allergies should avoid.

The Basis for the Labeling Rules

Food labeling is set by the “Food Labeling Standards” (Cabinet Office Ordinance No. 10 of 2015), a Cabinet Office ordinance issued under Article 4 of the Food Labeling Act (Act No. 70 of 2013). The Consumer Affairs Agency oversees it. The structure of the law and how to prepare labels when importing Ukrainian food are covered in our article on the procedures for importing Ukrainian food into Japan.

Where Labeling Is Mandatory, and Where It Is Not

The Food Labeling Standards’ labeling obligation applies to businesses when they sell food. It does not apply equally to every kind of food.

• Processed food in a package or box: this is the core of the obligation. Article 3 sets out what must be labeled when selling processed food in packaging.
• Restaurants: Article 1 provides that where food is served for eating on the premises, as at a restaurant, the standards do not apply except for certain provisions. There is no obligation to label allergens on a restaurant menu.
• Food made and sold on the spot: Article 5 states that when food is sold at the place where it was made or processed, labeling of the ingredient list, net content, and the business’s name and address, among other items, is not required. Allergens, however, are not on this list of items that may be omitted.
• Loose food not in packaging, sold by weight: Article 3’s labeling obligation for processed food is a rule about food that has been placed in packaging.

For restaurants and “nakashoku” (ready-to-eat food bought to take home, such as deli items), the Consumer Affairs Agency is encouraging businesses to voluntarily provide allergen information, and in July 2026 it published a consumer pamphlet, “Things to Watch for When Using Restaurants and Nakashoku.”

Reading the Label From the Top

The main items Article 3 requires for packaged processed food are as follows.

• Name: a general name describing the contents.
• Ingredient list: the ingredients used, listed in order from the largest share by weight.
• Additives: listed separately from ingredients. In the Consumer Affairs Agency’s model labels, a slash (“/”) separates ingredients from additives.
• Net content: weight or volume.
• Consume-by date or best-before date: explained in the next section.
• Storage method: for example, “avoid direct sunlight, store at room temperature.”
• Nutrient amounts and energy: calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates, and salt equivalent.
• The name and address of the food business operator: the business responsible for the content of the label. For imported goods this is the importer; for goods made in Japan the location of the manufacturing plant and similar details are also given.
• Country/place of origin of raw materials (for processed food made in Japan) and country of origin (for imported goods).

Consume-By Date and Best-Before Date

There are two kinds of date labeling. Article 2 of the Food Labeling Standards defines them as follows.

Consumer Affairs Agency materials describe the consume-by date as “the date after which it is better not to eat it,” and the best-before date as “the date up to which it can be eaten deliciously.” Both, as their definitions state, are the date on the assumption of storage by the labeled method.

Food whose period from manufacture to the best-before date exceeds three months may be labeled with only the year and month, omitting the day (the table under Article 3). Starch, chewing gum, frozen desserts, sugar, ice cream, salt and umami seasoning, alcoholic beverages, glass-bottled or polyethylene-bottled drinking water and soft drinks, and ice may omit date labeling entirely (Article 3, Paragraph 3).

Allergens: 9 Mandatory Items, 20 Recommended

The “specified raw materials” listed in Appended Table 14 of the Food Labeling Standards must be labeled if used in packaged processed food. Separately, a Consumer Affairs Agency notice designates “items equivalent to specified raw materials,” for which labeling is recommended but voluntary.

The Consumer Affairs Agency states that it determines the specified raw materials based on the number and severity of cases in a nationwide survey of physicians conducted roughly every three years.

How the List of Items Has Changed

The addition of cashew nuts carries a transitional arrangement. The supplementary provisions of Cabinet Office Ordinance No. 34 of 2026 state that processed foods manufactured, processed, or imported by March 31, 2028 may still follow the pre-amendment Appended Table 14. A Consumer Affairs Agency administrative communication also sets a two-year transitional period while asking that businesses be guided to label as promptly as possible. During this period, products that contain cashew nuts but do not label them can still be on sale.

How Allergens Are Labeled

Per Consumer Affairs Agency guidance, allergens are, in principle, labeled next to each ingredient, for example “ham (contains egg, pork),” a method called “individual labeling.” As an exception, a single summary at the end, such as “(contains egg, pork, and soybean, in part),” is also permitted, called “collective labeling.” If the wording used, such as “tamago” or “tamago” written in kana, is already clearly the same thing as a specified raw material (an alternative notation), the phrase “contains egg” can be omitted.

Where cross-contamination on the same production line cannot be ruled out, even if an item was not used as an ingredient, the Consumer Affairs Agency recommends a precautionary note such as “this product is made in a factory that also produces products containing [item].” On the other hand, a bare statement of mere possibility, such as “may contain,” is not permitted.

Origin of Raw Materials: Mandatory for All Processed Food Since April 2022

According to the Consumer Affairs Agency, from September 1, 2017, labeling the origin of the ingredient with the largest share by weight became mandatory for all processed food made in Japan. The transitional period for preparation ran to March 31, 2022. Products manufactured and sold from April 2022 onward must carry the origin of raw materials (a few items, such as onigiri rice balls, have separate rules).

There are two ways of writing it. If the ingredient with the largest share is a fresh food, its place of origin, such as “domestic,” is given; if it is a processed food, the place it was processed, such as “manufactured domestically,” is given. The Consumer Affairs Agency notes that “manufactured domestically” does not mean that the fresh food used in that ingredient is “domestic.” Imported processed food is labeled with the country of origin rather than the origin of raw materials.

What You Can Read in Languages Other Than Japanese

The Consumer Affairs Agency’s English-language page publishes an explanation of Japan’s food labeling system in English, Chinese, and Korean, and a “food allergy communication sheet” for conveying allergies at restaurants and elsewhere, also in English, Chinese, and Korean (as of September 2026). No Ukrainian-language version could be found.

Preparing to convey allergies before a child starts school is covered in our article on preparing before entering a Japanese school, and pharmacies and medication rules in our article on prescriptions and pharmacies.

Where to Ask

• About the ingredients or allergens of a specific product: the business (manufacturer, seller, or importer) named on the label.
• About the labeling rules themselves: the Consumer Affairs Agency (Food Labeling Division), or the public health center or other municipal department in your area.
• Whether you or a family member can eat something: the physician who treats you.