On October 1, 2024, the “First Subcommittee Meeting to Study the Use of Digital Tools for Food Labeling” (hereinafter referred to as the “Subcommittee Meeting”) was held. During this first gathering, the current status of the use of digital tools in Japan and abroad, as well as current issues related to them were discussed. In this issue, we would like to summarize the contents of the first subcommittee meeting based on the materials published for it.

Background of the Study

In the “Consumer Basic Plan Schedule”^(note), it is stated that a rational and easy-to-understand food labeling system should be discussed based on consistency with international standards.

(Note)
An annual plan of actions and timelines based on the Consumer Basic Plan, an action plan to improve the lives of consumers set by the Consumer Affairs Agency

At the 2023 Food Labeling Roundtable Meeting, the general direction that food labeling should take in the future was presented, and “the use of digital tools for food labeling” was mentioned as one of the directions.

Mandatory labeling items for food products in Japan are difficult to read, they are numerous, and if it is increased beyond the current items, consumers with diverse needs may find it even more difficult to read the labels and may not fully refer to them. In parallel, it should be noted that discussions are currently underway in the Food Labeling Subcommittee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (International governmental organization for international food standards) on the formulation of international rules for the development of “Guidelines for the Provision of Food Information Using Technological Innovation”. In light of these developments, a subcommittee will be established at the 2024 Food Labeling Roundtable to discuss the direction of the use of digital tools for food labeling.

Current Considerations in Codex Alimentarius

The Sub-Committee discussed how to use technology as an alternative to the conventional mandatory labeling items on packages and the content of information to be provided in such cases, and prepared the “Draft Guidelines for the Use of Technology to Provide Food Information in Food Labeling” (For details, please refer to Subcommittee Document 3 (in Japanese).)

Overseas Initiatives

Other countries are also moving forward with the use of digital tools to provide food labeling information. For example, in Indonesia, it has been confirmed that QR codes are mandatory to be displayed on containers and packaging, and that the product information database is managed by a national agency. In South Korea, the EU, and the U.S., regulations that allow QR codes to be used for some labeling items have also been confirmed.

Other examples of digital tool use overseas include cases in which industry associations, NPOs, and private companies, in addition to the national government, are in charge of operation, as well as efforts to promote the use of digital tools, such as support functions for people who have difficulty operating digital tools and smartphone education for the elderly, etc. (For details, please refer to Subcommittee Document 5 (in Japanese).)

Domestic Initiatives

Based on the results of the Consumer Affairs Agency’s survey project conducted in FY2020 and FY2021, the technical issues that should be considered in the future were listed. Some of the specific issues are summarized below. (For more details, please refer to the Subcommittee Document 4 (in Japanese))

• Format of food labeling data (unification of various standards for food labeling data, etc.)
• Assurance of freshness and accuracy of food labeling data
• Distribution method of food labeling data
• Establishment of a mechanism for openness of food labeling data (a mechanism to promote the release and distribution of food labeling data).
• Methods to uniquely identify processed foods
• Present a step-by-step roadmap for data distribution

The use of digital tools in the provision of food labeling information is expected to increase in importance from the perspective of diverse consumer needs for food labeling, ease of understanding and visibility, etc., but there are still many technical issues to be cleared.

Future Schedule

The second and third subcommittee meetings are scheduled to report on the 48th Codex Alimentarius Commission Food Labeling Subcommittee meeting held from October 27, conduct interviews with related businesses, and discuss the direction of resolving technical issues. After that, based on the directionality discussed, the committee will continue to discuss the desirable form of digital tools and other issues.

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