The hygiene routine
Every food plant has an entry routine that is followed in the same order every time: protective clothing, hair covering, hand washing, sanitising, a lint roller, and often an air shower. It is drilled rather than explained, and the vocabulary is worth learning before your first shift.
These are rules rather than preferences, and the expectation is exact compliance rather than approximate.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 手洗いをお願いします。 | Tearai o onegai shimasu. | Please wash your hands. |
| 消毒してください。 | Shōdoku shite kudasai. | Please sanitise. |
| 帽子から髪が出ています。 | Bōshi kara kami ga dete imasu. | Hair is coming out of your cap. |
| 粘着ローラーをかけてください。 | Nenchaku rōrā o kakete kudasai. | Please use the lint roller. |
| エアシャワーを通ってください。 | Ea shawā o tōtte kudasai. | Please go through the air shower. |
| 手袋を交換してください。 | Tebukuro o kōkan shite kudasai. | Please change your gloves. |
Reporting contamination
This is the most important conversation in the job. A foreign object, a dropped item, a torn glove or a hair found on the line is reported immediately and stops the relevant work.
The reporting culture strongly favours raising things early. A self-reported problem is an ordinary event; the same problem found later in the process is a traceability incident.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 異物が入りました。 | Ibutsu ga hairimashita. | A foreign object has got in. |
| ラインを止めてください。 | Rain o tomete kudasai. | Please stop the line. |
| 手袋が破れました。 | Tebukuro ga yaburemashita. | My glove has torn. |
| 落としてしまいました。 | Otoshite shimaimashita. | I dropped it. |
| すぐに報告します。 | Sugu ni hōkoku shimasu. | I will report it immediately. |
| この分は廃棄でよろしいですか。 | Kono bun wa haiki de yoroshii desu ka. | Should this batch be discarded? |
Never quietly remove and continue. Traceability depends on the report, and the consequences of concealment are far larger than of the original problem.
Dates, temperatures and lots
These are the numbers that carry consequences, and they are the ones most easily misheard on a noisy line. Confirming them back is standard practice.
Japanese has two date conventions and food plants use both, so it is worth being sure which is on the label in front of you.
| Term | Meaning | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 賞味期限 | Best before | Quality date |
| 消費期限 | Use by | Safety date |
| 製造日 | Production date | When it was made |
| ロット番号 | Lot number | For traceability |
| 温度記録 | Temperature log | Recorded regularly |
| 冷蔵 / 冷凍 | Chilled / frozen | Different handling |
The first two rows are not interchangeable. One is about quality and the other about safety, and confusing them is a serious error.
On the line
Line instructions arrive quickly, over machine noise, often while the person is demonstrating. The demonstration is the main channel and the words support it, which helps a learner considerably.
What to confirm is the number, the order and the standard: how many, in what sequence, and how to tell when it is right.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 確認します。この順番でよろしいですか。 | Kakunin shimasu. Kono junban de yoroshii desu ka. | Let me confirm. In this order, correct? |
| 何個入りですか。 | Nanko iri desu ka. | How many go in each? |
| やって見せていただけますか。 | Yatte misete itadakemasu ka. | Could you show me? |
| これで合っていますか。 | Kore de atte imasu ka. | Is this correct? |
| 速度を落としてもらえますか。 | Sokudo o otoshite moraemasu ka. | Could you slow the line down? |
| 交代をお願いします。 | Kōtai o onegai shimasu. | Could I be relieved, please? |
Health and attendance
Food plants take worker health seriously because of contamination risk, and there are usually rules requiring you to declare illness before entering. Coming in unwell is not diligence here; it is a problem.
The declaration is routine and has fixed phrasing.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 体調不良を報告します。 | Taichō furyō o hōkoku shimasu. | I am reporting that I am unwell. |
| 昨日から下痢があります。 | Kinō kara geri ga arimasu. | I have had diarrhoea since yesterday. |
| 手に傷があります。 | Te ni kizu ga arimasu. | I have a cut on my hand. |
| 熱はありません。 | Netsu wa arimasen. | I do not have a fever. |
| 本日は休ませていただきます。 | Honjitsu wa yasumasete itadakimasu. | I will take today off. |
| 医者に行ってきます。 | Isha ni itte kimasu. | I will go to the doctor. |
Declaring a stomach upset or a cut on your hand is required rather than optional in most plants. Both are contamination risks.
What to prepare
Two sets of phrases are worth rehearsing before you need them: the hygiene vocabulary, which is said to you constantly, and the reporting phrases, which are needed under mild pressure at the moment you least want to be composing Japanese.
Practising the report with an AI Sensei in Unihongo's immersive 3D classroom takes ten minutes and means the sentence arrives without thought on the day something goes wrong.
Noise is the other factor. A food plant degrades the length distinctions Japanese uses, so drilling numbers and dates in the pronunciation lab gives them the margin they need to be heard first time across a line.
Learn the hygiene words first, the reporting phrases second, and the product vocabulary as it comes up. That order matches the actual consequences.