Newsletter
We issue monthly e-newsletters, which keep you up to date with the latest developments surrounding food labeling in Japan.
Ever-changing regulations can be an hassle to keep up with (especially when in Japanese!): we share here the most relevant content and provide a professional analysis of the current situation and future outcomes for businesses engaged in the food sector (including impact on importation and consumers behavior), written by our experienced expert.
Note: The main features of each newsletter can be accessed from this page but if you are interested in receiving the original "Label bank Communication" and want to make sure to not miss any issue, please contact us.
Past issues
- September 2020
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In Japan, the "Fair Competition Code" is voluntarily set by business operators or business associations (councils): It is based on the "Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations" which stipulates to prohibit misleading and false labeling statements or representations.........more
- September 2020
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On July 16th, 2020, the Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) announced the "Partial revision of the guidelines for the legal product names of seafood" and the "Proposal procedure for the new standardized Japanese names for fish according to the guidelines for the legal names of seafood"..........more
- August 2020
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Labeling of food containing designated ingredients, etc. enforced on June 1.
"Food containing designated ingredients, etc." refers to foods that contain ingredients designated by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare as ingredients requiring special precautions. The law to partially amend the Food Sanitation Act was promulgated on June 13th, 2018. One of the outlines of the revision is "Collecting health hazards information from foods containing ingredients requiring.........more
- August 2020
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On May 25, 2020, The Consumer Commission Food Labeling Section Meeting deliberated on the partial revisions to Food Labeling Standards (such as labeling of food additives, etc.), and approved to the consultation paper and the proposed draft report to remove the terms.........more
- July 2020
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Regarding wording for Nutrient Content Claims
"Rich in calcium", "zero-fat", "30% less salt"... Regarding Nutrient Content Claims, "Food Labeling Standards" define the standards, and the labeling must meet the specified conditions. Take a look at the examples of expressions below. Examples of expression indicating the ability of a food to supplement nutrients, or to ensure the proper intake of certain nutrients/calories.........more
- July 2020
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The Consumer Affairs Agency announced the "Business Inspection Report on the revision of the standard values for the labeling of nutrients (hereinafter "Report")" on April 24, 2020. *Please note that it might not be the latest since Food Labeling Standards,.........more
- June 2020
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This month, I would like to take up the above Cabinet Office Ordinance, as it has a serious impact on food safety..........more
- June 2020
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Updates on International measures regarding Food Labeling regulations during the COVID-19 Pandemic
It has been a few months since the world is knowing a global crisis, that involves a battle between nature and sciences. As it has been a priority to the governments to inhibit the spread of the COVID-19 infection amongst the populations, lots of businesses and legislative activities are being postponed temporarily without totally losing guard especially on Food safety and labeling. .........more
- May 2020
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Points to be noted about the labeling of frozen chilled products
"フロチル(fro-chill)” is the abbreviation of “フローズンチルド商品“(frozen” and “chilled product) in Japanese. Although there is no clear definition of the term, this refers to products of which storage condition will be changed from "frozen" to "chilled" such as : - "products that are distributed and stored in a frozen state, thawed at the time of sale and sold in a chilled state'' - "products that are .........more
- May 2020
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[April 13, 2020, postscript] On April 10, 2020, the Consumer Affairs Agency(CAA) issued a new notice. The previous notification that China was the sole target country (dated March 3&9, 2020) has been abolished..........more
- April 2020
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At the 9th discussion on the Labeling System for Food Additives held on February 27, 2020, the Consumer Affairs Agency published the "Report on Discussions about the Labeling System for Food Additives (Draft)". Regarding the labeling system for additives,.........more
- March 2020
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About the additives labeling methods
This time, I would like to feature the additives labeling methods as ingredients. Taking the following labeling as an example, I would like to review them along with the Food Labeling Standards. Ingredients: wheat, sugar, whole egg, vegetable oil and fat, cashew, glucose syrup, walnut, almond powder, maple syrup, milk, salt/leavening agent, trehalose, thickening agent (xanthan), flavoring agent,.........more
- March 2020
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The guidelines' draft for the ex-post review on Foods with Function Claims has been published.
The Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) published "The guidelines' draft to ensure transparency of the ex-post regulations (ex-post review) of Foods with Function Claims based on related legislations on food labeling, etc." and started receiving public comments on January 16, 2020..........more
- February 2020
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Food label news: Highlights of 2019 and upcoming schedules
During the past year, there were various announcements and changes related to food labeling. As this year, 2020, will be the end for the transition period for the new Food Labeling Standard, we hope this article will offer you the opportunity to check again the upcoming schedules..........more
- January 2020
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The 6th “discussion about the labeling system for food additives” was held at the Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) on November 1, 2019. The discussion started in April 2019, mainly regarding the use of “-free” and “non-use” for labeling. Therefore, I would like to feature it here..........more
- December 2019
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Changing food markets and the moves in labeling regulations
In the past few years, the processed food market has been growing rapidly on an international scale which implied a constant control on the labeling regulations in order to quickly adapt to the market changes and the emerging new food products. As in Japan, the regulations of food labeling have been amended reflecting these changes in the recent years, I would also like to focus on the.........more
- November 2019
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One of our primary business operations is to submit “Food Labeling Review Report” to our clients after confirming their draft of food label based on the formulations and ingredients specifications from our clients who have already created their labels. For both those who create and confirm the documents in which “ingredients” and “additives” are listed in order of weight by comparing.........more
- November 2019
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On September 19th, 2019, the Consumers Affairs Agency announced the amendment of “Regarding Food Labeling Standards” and “Food Labeling Standard Q&A”. .........more
- October 2019
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Recently, Craft beer has been gaining more popularity. Although it might seem more expensive compared to the major manufacturers’ products, but still lots people are rather attracted to craft breweries products. I would like to feature the labeling standards for beer while mentioning the definition of craft beer and pointing out its differences from the local beer..........more
- October 2019
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The Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) released the notice “Dissemination of information regarding the operation of Manufacturer Identification Codes”, and called for manufacturers or related business operators to submit a notification in the case of need of Manufacturer Identification Codes.........more
- September 2019
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On July 5, 2019, at the Cabinet Office Consumer Commission Food Labeling Section Meeting, the Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) announced that "Almond has been added to the list of foods recommended to use allergen labeling" and "Walnut has been designated as a food.........more
- August 2019
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The comparison of standard values for nutrient claims between Japan, the U.S. and EU
You will often come across various nutrients-related catchphrases such as "Low Calorie" or, "Low Cholesterol" on food packages wherever you are in the world. Each country sets its own standard values as well as Japan does regarding nutrient content claims..........more
- August 2019
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On June 20, 2019, at the Food Labeling Section Meeting of the Cabinet Office Food Safety Commission, CAA acknowledged the difficulty of mandatory labeling for foods derived from genome editing technology . I would like to summarize the outline based on CAA’s materials "The Labeling system of the food.........more
- July 2019
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About the food additives labeling system in Japan and other foreign countries (comparative summary)
A summary of the food additives labeling systems in foreign countries was shared in the materials of The First Discussion on the Food Additives Labeling System" held on April 18, 2019. As the number of business operators exporting food products that were manufactured in Japan is..........more
- July 2019
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Discussions on the labeling system for food additives have started
On April 18, 2019, the Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) held "The First Discussion on the Food Additives Labeling System." Regarding the food labeling system in Japan, amendments were made (in the past) such as: The Food Labeling Standard (enforced in April 2015 (the transition period for processed foods is until March 31, 2020))".........more
- June 2019
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Processed foods using rice flour, etc. and labeled as "gluten-free" are being imported these years. Similarly, other products besides rice flour also have such labeling. The standards for the labeling of mentions like "gluten-free" in western countries are different from the ones applied for the allergen labeling system in Japan (which is based on the Food Labeling Standard).........more
- June 2019
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On March 29, 2019, the Consumers Affairs Agency (CAA) published the "guidelines on the provision of the countries of origin of ingredients in the "ingredient-name-labelled" (prefix labeling, hereafter referred as "ingredient-name-labelled" only)".........more
- May 2019
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The Food Labeling Standards Q&A was amended for the 6th time on March 1, 2019. As a new category of labeling examples, "entity/company in charge of the nutrition facts labeling" was added this time. Therefore, we would like to feature it here.........more
- April 2019
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The transition period to the new Food Labeling Standards is coming to the end
Almost 4 years have passed since the implementation of the Food Labeling Standards in April 2015, and we can see more and more products with labeling following the Food Labeling Standards on the shelves. The transition period during which the labeling of processed food.........more
- April 2019
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Discussions on the partial revision of the labelling system for genetically modified food
As of February 2019, discussions regarding "a partial revision of the Food labelling standards (Labelling of genetically modified food)" are being held at the Food Labeling Section of the Cabinet’s Office of the Consumer Commission. .........more
- March 2019
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While more and more countries are recently lowering barriers of trade such as customs duties and adopting systems to introduce each other’s products (on their respective markets) .........more
- February 2019
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Food label news: Highlights of 2018 and upcoming schedules
While not as numerous as the year before (in 2017), there were still several and various announcements and changes that happened regarding food labeling this past year (in 2018). If you engage in food labeling activities, you must probably be busy in dealing with the new standards .........more
- February 2019
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Partial amendment of the Food Labeling Act ～Notifications of voluntary recall became mandatory～
On December 14, 2018, a law to partially amend of the Food Labeling Act (Act No. 97 of 2018) was published. According to this amendment, notifications to an administrative body became mandatory in case of voluntary recall of food products by a company..........more
- January 2019
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On Standards of use for ingredients/Labeling standards and what it implies for Import/Export
The food system in Japan is a lot different from the ones in other countries. For instance, items subject to allergen labeling are different. .........more
- January 2019
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Food allergen labeling and exportation to foreign countries
A while ago I got the opportunity to see a food product (made in Japan) bearing a mention "allergen free" and which was scheduled to be exported abroad. When I asked the manufacturer, they said they were using the labeling since .........more