‘No crackdowns for now’: Japan temporarily loosened food labelling rules to help firms deal with COVID-19

In April, Japan temporarily relaxed its traditionally strict food labelling regulations​ to help accommodate food manufacturing firms that needed to make adjustments to production processes or raw materials in their production chains as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

The country had been actively implementing and enforcing new strict food labelling standards​ over the past few years since 2015, with a final cut-off date for companies previously set on March 31 2020 – but the COVID-19 outbreak has thrown all of that into upheaval.

Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and six other prefectures over the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country earlier this month, giving local authorities power to tell the public to stay at home and close businesses.

Many expect this to be expanded nationwide due to the country’s Golden Week period in late April/early May where a lot of travel occurs. As of April 22, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country stood at over 11,500, with over 280 deaths recorded.