The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is planning to set up a nationwide system via which companies will be required to report all food recalls to town, cities and prefectures, with the data to be collated and shared online, ministry sources said Monday.
There is no system in place to give the central government a nationwide picture of food recalls because reporting them is not obligatory across Japan.
The government is expected to submit a bill to the Diet next year to revise the food sanitation while considering penalties for businesses that fail to report recalls.