Abstract
Recently Japanese people have had many food problems, such as Chinese vegetables with pesticide residues, BSE, E. coli O-157 contamination, hidden source of origin and false labeling. So the Food Safety Commission of Japan and the Consumer Affairs Agency of the Government of Japan have been established. But some fears about foods have not gone away. Many Japanese people still are distrustful of foods and politics. Especially the consumer has fears about pesticide residues and food additives. After the accident at Fukushima atomic power plant, the consumer feels strong anxiety about our daily foods which are polluted with radioactive compounds. With this social background, it is true that many food dealers have serious problems which we call food off-flavors in Japan.
Therefore our colleague thought that we needed an organization in which off-flavor problems were discussed. In July 2011 we established the Food Off-Flavor Study Group (FOFSG), and the first meeting on food off-flavor studies was held at Tokyo Kasei University. This group was approved as a general incorporated association this June. The aim of FOFSG is to make a place where we discuss off-flavor problems and to share that information, so that we contribute to improving the quality of Japanese food.
