Japan amended the Law Concerning Standardization and Proper Labeling of Agricultural and Forestry Products (the JAS law) thus expanding the labeling requirements to processed foods traded among dealers. The government recently decided to establish a food labeling law that would combine food labeling regulations that are currently stipulated under multiple laws into one law.
These laws provided Quality Labeling Standards (QLS) applicable to all foods.
The QLS has been divided into three parts, considering three different kinds of food products:
- Quality Labeling Standards for Fresh Foods
- Quality Labeling Standards for Processed Foods
- Quality Labeling Standards for Genetically Modified Foods
All of them were accepted on March 31, 2001 and took effort in April 2001. Afterwards, there were numerous changes and revisions in the standards, as the last one is from January 31, 2008.