Tag Archives: Japan

Recent Food Labeling Trends on Sustainability

Recently, sustainability has been the motive behind some new movements and legislations. Sustainability in the food industry includes various different aspects, and in this newsletter, we will explore two prevalent food labeling regulations trends that focus on food waste and plastic circular practices of foreign countries, particularly the EU and Korea. We would like to… more »

“Fair Trade Conference for Olive Oils” newly established and its Code added to Fair Competition Codes (Japan)

The Code for the labeling of “Extra virgin olive oils” was approved to be included in Fair Competition Codes on February 17, 2023, and a public notice was issued on March 22, 2023, pursuant to Paragraph 4 of the same Article. Background According to the international standards of the International Olive Council (hereinafter referred to… more »

Mandatory allergen labeling for walnuts and others:“Food Labeling Standards”, ”Regarding Food Labeling Standards”, ”Food Labeling Standards Q&A” Revised (Japan)

On March 9, 2023, the Consumer Affairs Agency(CAA) announced revisions to “Food Labeling Standards”, “Regarding Food Labeling Standards”, and “Food Labeling Standards Q&A”. The main revisions include the mandatory labeling of allergens for walnuts and the addition of rapeseed producing EPA / DHA* to the list of specified genetically modified agricultural products**. In this article,… more »

Report of the discussion on the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations published (Japan)

On January 13, 2023, the Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) published “the report of the discussion on the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations”.  The report was compiled after 10 rounds of discussions starting in March 2022. The report summarized issues to be considered in the future including the “introduction of Commitment Procedure that allows… more »

Japan’s System for the Operation of Geographical Indication Protection reviewed

The Geographical Indication (GI) Protection System is a system to protect names of products with properties such as quality and social reputation, and so on that have been nurtured by natural, human, and social factors and environments unique to the region as regional intellectual property. The system has already been introduced in more than 100… more »

Importance of Guidelines related to the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations (Japan)

This month, we will take up the topic on the page of “Guidelines related to the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations” (the Consumer Affairs Agency) for business operators handling foods to check it again. I hope this will be good opportunity to remind people of the importance of “Misleading representations” under the Act… more »

Comments invitation on partial revision draft of Food Labeling Standards started ~Addition of walnuts to the list of Specified allergens (mandatory labeling items for allergens) and Addition of rapeseed producing EPA/DHA to the list of specified genetically modified agricultural products~(Japan)

On October 13, 2022, the Consumer Affairs Agency announced the start of invitation for public comment on the “Partial Revision of Food Labeling Standards.” The public comment was closed on November 12. Summary of the revision According to the public comment procedure, the outline of the revision draft is as follows. Revision of mandatory allergen… more »