Newsletter
Columns on Food Labeling/Regulations in Japan
Singapore’s New Framework for Gluten-Free Food Regulations: A Comparison with Global Standards
The Food (Amendment) Regulations 2025 has been gazetted on 31 Jan 2025 and will come into operation on 30 Jan 2026. This amendment aims to enhance consumer protection and align with international standards through updated food labelling rules. As part of this effort, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) referred to Codex General Standard for the… more »
Important Notice: Food Labelling Standards amended (Japan)
The Cabinet Office Ordinance to partially amend Food Labelling Standards (Japanese) was promulgated and came into effect on March 28, 2025.N.b. No changes have been made to the proposed amendment or the transitional measures since the draft was released for public comment in January. We have mentioned it previously on LinkedIn, but due to the… more »
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the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) released Labeling of Plant-Based Alternatives to Animal-Derived Foods: Draft Guidance for Industry.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 »
Guidance on how to label plant-based egg-like products (plant-based alternatives to egg products) in Canada
Following the results of a public consultation that ran from 29 July 2024 to 28 October 2024, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) proposed a guidance on 29 October 2024 regarding how plant-based foods (alternatives to egg products) should be labelled in Canada. Guidance overview This guidance only covers plant-based egg substitutes that do not… 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 »