Ministop stores falsified food expiry dates to reduce waste — halting sales at 1,784 shops

In August 2025, Ministop found that 25 franchise stores across seven Japanese prefectures had falsified consume-by dates on rice balls, boxed lunches and other food prepared in-store. Some labels were attached hours after preparation, extending the displayed shelf life by as much as 14 hours; at some stores the practice had continued for up to three years.

Ministop investigated all 1,786 stores and identified about 70 affected product lines. Staff, owners or managers altered labels partly to reduce food waste, and some managers directed employees to do it. Two customers reported stomach pain or vomiting after buying boxed lunches, although no causal link was established.

The chain stopped making rice balls and boxed lunches nationwide on 9 August, extended the halt to prepared side dishes on 18 August, and suspended in-store prepared-food sales at 1,784 shops. It said all 25 implicated franchise owners would be replaced and added production-data checks, timed label printers and a kitchen reporting hotline.