2023 Volume 74 Issue 5 Pages 265-275
The Japanese Food Labeling Act was enforced on April 1, 2015, and rendered compulsory the change of all food labeling by March 31, 2020. We conducted an investigation to determine the degree of shift toward the new standard, and a survey for each one month in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Based on the Food Label Watcher survey form, compliance to the new standard was determined. The rate of problematic labels decreased each year, from 41% in 2018 to 18% in 2019 to 6% in 2020. Beverage products were found to comply with the new standards in each period. For noodles and bread, compliance with the labeling requirements improved each year. However, compliance with processed foods was lagging. Processed foods without nutritional labels were deemed problematic (68% in 2019 and 50% in 2020). The sample sizes for processed food groups differed each year; if they were similar, a clearer result would more likely have been obtained. Moreover, expanding the investigation survey to include non-students may have produced different results to general. The study suggests that even after enforcement of the Food Labeling Act, there is a need to always confirm food labeling.
