On June 20, 2023, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan (MHLW) issued the No. 2 notice of 2023 to investigate the sales of existing additives in order to compile a list of additives to be canceled. The main contents of the notification include:

1. Investigate the sales of existing additives, etc. According to the provisions of Articles 2-3 of the "Partially Revised Food Sanitation Law and Nutrition Improvement Law" (Law No. 101 of 1995) (hereinafter referred to as "exemption regulations"), the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan has formulated a document that will be List of additives exempted. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan may prepare and publicly notify the list of additives to be eliminated in accordance with the provisions of the "Elimination and Deletion Regulations" (hereinafter referred to as "Elimination and Deletion Regulations"), and after necessary procedures, from the current Delete its name from the list of additives (Notice No. 120 of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 1996). On this basis, 132 items have been deleted so far. Since there may be 78 categories of existing additives listed in Annex 1 Not for sale, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare decided to conduct a preliminary investigation on the actual sales conditions of 357 existing additives on the existing additive list. This investigation is to investigate the actual situation of the sales of these items;

2. Notify the importer of the existing additives to conduct an investigation. If there is any import, please refer to the implementation guidelines in Annex 2-1 and 2-2 to submit a report. Existing additives or preparations or foods containing existing additives (hereinafter referred to as "existing additives, etc.") that have not been reported in accordance with Annex 2-1 and 2-2 should not be sold, etc.;

3. A certain substance is an existing additive listed in Annex 1. If the substance is not used as a food additive, it is not subject to notification in principle. However, if the substance is a vitamin or mineral intended to enhance food nutrition, even if it is not used as a food additive The use of additives must also be declared;

4. Additives deleted from the existing list of additives under the deletion provisions are prohibited from being sold as additives, etc. unless they are redesignated as additives under Article 12 of the Food Sanitation Act (Law No. 223 of 1947).