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Columns on Food Labeling/Regulations in Japan
Tag Archives: Japan
Proposed change to the way of applying labelling rules for spices used as ingredients (Japan)
On January 21, 2025, the 8th Subcommittee on Reviewing Labelling Rules for Each Individual Item* 2025 (Japanese) (hereinafter referred to as “the Subcommittee”) was held. In this article I would like to take up the proposed change in labelling rules application for spices used as ingredients. The proposed change in the application of cross-sectional labelling… more »
Trends in plant-based food labelling standards in various countries
In January 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) released Labeling of Plant-Based Alternatives to Animal-Derived Foods: Draft Guidance for Industry. I’d like to provide an overview of the latest trends in plant-based food labelling regulations across various countries, viewed from Japan. The U.S. As mentioned above, the guidance on alternatives for animal-derived foods… more »
3rd Discussion on Japan’s Front-of Package Nutrition Labelling 2025
On December 24, 2024, the 3rd Discussion on the Japan’s of Front-of-Package Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL) 2024 (in Japanese) was held. Based on a survey of current nutrition labelling practices for processed foods (in Japanese), the discussion meeting addressed the following points.– Handling of foods where nutrient values cause deviations between “as sold” and “as consumed”… more »
Draft Amendments to the Food Labelling Standards and the Classification of Cashew Nuts and Pistachios as Allergens (Japan)
The draft amendments to the Food Labelling Standards (in Japanese), scheduled to be implemented in April 2025, have been published. The public comments for the amendments have been collected up to January 28. As for allergen labelling, the 7th Advisors’ Meeting on Food Allergen (21 January, 2025) (in Japanese) proposed that cashew nuts be included… more »
Summary of the status of legal changes on food labelling in Japan (2)~ Amendment of the Standard Values for Nutritional Labelling and Progress Report on Reviewing Labelling Rules for Individual Food Items (Categories)~
This article continues the previous article, Summary of the status of legal changes on food labelling in Japan (1). The Food Labelling Advisory Committee (held on 13 December 2024) (Japanese) reviewed the draft amendment to the standard values for nutritional labelling. At the meeting, the progress of reviewing the labelling rules for each individual food… more »
Summary of the status of legal changes on food labelling in Japan (1)
Looking back the year 2024, there have been various amendments to the food labelling system this year, and we would like to reiterate the domestic situation. Status of amendments in 2024 The main amendment announced this year was the addition of “macadamia nuts” to the list of Voluntary allergen labelling items (and the deletion of… more »
Study on the Use of Digital Tools for Food Labeling
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… more »
2nd Discussion on Japan’s Front-of-Package Nutrition Labeling 2024
On August 27 2024, the ‘2nd Discussion on Japan’s Front-of-Package Nutrition Labeling in 2024’ (in Japanese) (hereinafter referred to as the Discussion) was held. In this issue, we would like to summarize the main topics at that occasion. The two topics discussed on the main agenda were the permissibility of labeling the state of the… more »
Food Labeling Standards partly amended in relation to FFC (Japan)
Note: This article discusses the changes in Japan FFC systems, following the Beni-Koji Incident that happened earlier this year. On August 23, 2024, a partial amendment to the Food Labeling Standards (Japanese) has been published (some of which came into effect on September 1). The following are excerpts of the outline of the amendment organized… more »
Call for public comment on draft notification to make GMP mandatory in accordance with the revision of the system for FFC (Japan)
On July 12, 2024, the Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) began soliciting opinions on the standards for the manufacture or processing of tablets, capsules, and other Foods with Functional Claims (FFC) that Use natural extracts as ingredients (draft) (Japanese). The public comment was closed on August 16th. The draft notice is based on the decision made… more »