Japan — Fishery/Seafood Products
Japan received 40 FDA import refusals in Fishery/Seafood Products between 2024-Q1 and 2026-Q4. Volume peaked at 11 in 2024-Q3, with the trend falling year-on-year. The most-cited issues are HACCP failure, ingredients not listed, and undeclared allergen. No trade baseline is published for this commodity from Japan, so no per-$1B rate is shown here.
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Key figures
If you import fishery/seafood products from Japan
- Hazard or paperwork
- Of 41 refusals in the last 3 years, 17 were hazard findings and 24 paperwork alone — most were avoidable at the desk.
- Where refusals happen
- DWCI — West Coast (19); DNEI — Northeast (17); DSEI — Southeast (3).
- Riskiest months
- August, July, March, by refusals since 2020.
- Test for before shipping
- veterinary drug residue (4), undeclared allergen (3), Listeria monocytogenes (3), filth (2), unsafe food additive (2).
- Paperwork to get right
- HACCP failure (21), ingredients not listed (4), not in English (4).
FDA does not publish how many entries it examines, so no page can state a true probability of refusal; these are the figures that are published.
Quarterly refusals, last 12 quarters
Show the numbers
| Quarter | Refusals | Hazard | Paperwork |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-Q1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2024-Q2 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2024-Q3 | 11 | 4 | 7 |
| 2024-Q4 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2025-Q1 | 7 | 5 | 2 |
| 2025-Q2 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025-Q3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2025-Q4 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2026-Q1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2026-Q2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2026-Q3 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2026-Q4 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
By commodity, last 156 weeks
| Commodity | Refusals | 1 refusal per | Per $1B US imports | Most-cited hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fish-Other | 36 | — | — | HACCP failure |
| Squid-Octopus | 3 | — | — | Listeria monocytogenes |
| Tuna | 1 | — | — | refused establishment inspection |
| Shrimp-Prawn | 1 | — | — | veterinary drug residue |
"1 refusal per X t": tonnes of the same product imported for every one, over the same 156 weeks. A dash means fewer than 5 in the window, or under 1,000 t a year imported, too few to rate; the total row pools every product that has import tonnes on record.
Recent refusals
- FY1-4103443-6 MACKEREL (ALL EXCEPT SCOMBEROMORUS SP, EG SPANISH OR KING SEE '22') Import division DWCI. HACCP failure
- 235-1768372-0 SNAILS, AQUATIC, OTHER AQUATIC SPECIES Import division DWCI. ingredients not listedundeclared allergenno process filing
- 235-1766384-7 FISH, N.E.C. Import division DWCI. Listeria monocytogenes
- FY1-4106818-6 SQUID, BREADED, OTHER AQUATIC SPECIES Import division DWCI. HACCP failure
- 417-0416513-7 MACKEREL (ALL EXCEPT SCOMBEROMORUS SP, EG SPANISH OR KING SEE '22') Import division DNEI. HACCP failure
- FY1-4102900-6 MACKEREL (ALL EXCEPT SCOMBEROMORUS SP, EG SPANISH OR KING SEE '22') Import division DWCI. HACCP failure
- 235-1760861-0 PUFFER Import division DWCI. poisonous substance
- 879-4080918-6 TUNA (ALBACORE, YELLOWFIN, BLUEFIN, SKIPJACK, ETC.) Import division DSEI. refused establishment inspection
- 235-1747793-3 MACKEREL (ALL EXCEPT SCOMBEROMORUS SP, EG SPANISH OR KING SEE '22') Import division DWCI. misidentified
- N7A-0000550-3 SCALLOPS Import division DSWI. importer HACCP failure
- 300-1840661-2 SCALLOPS Import division DNEI. filth
- 442-4445140-5 CRAB, IMITATION Import division DWCI. unsafe food additive
- EVJ-1232367-4 SCALLOPS, AQUACULTURE HARVESTED FISHERY/SEAFOOD PRODUCTS Import division DWCI. no manufacturer namenot in English
- 84A-0082856-9 SCALLOPS Import division DNBI. ingredients not listednot in Englishnutrition labelingno food-canning registration+2 more
- 9ES-0085096-4 AQUACULTURE HARVESTED FISHERY/SEAFOOD PRODUCTS, N.E.C., Import division DNEI. veterinary drug residue
- K64-3056851-4 YELLOWTAIL, AMBERJACK Import division DNEI. veterinary drug residue
- 235-8061191-3 YELLOWTAIL, AMBERJACK Import division DNEI. HACCP failure
- KM6-1621246-0 SCALLOPS, AQUACULTURE HARVESTED FISHERY/SEAFOOD PRODUCTS Import division DNEI. filth
- 235-1735799-4 COD Import division DWCI. ingredients not listedHACCP failurefalse or misleading labelno common name+2 more
- 9ES-0088767-7 YELLOWTAIL, AMBERJACK Import division DNEI. HACCP failureinsanitary conditions
Data and downloads
Download all 59 entries (CSV) — every refusal behind this page, with its import division, FDA product code, charges and whether it was a hazard finding or paperwork.
The file holds entries up to 2026-10-22. To get new ones for Japan by email, watch Japan.
Japan country report since 2020 — every refusal by year, charge and import division →