Policy Picks: 2024 must-know regulations, Japan's cheese incentives, top policy news from the past year and more feature in our round-up

Movers and shakers: Five must-know regulations and policies set to impact the APAC food and beverage sector in 2024​

From the hotly-debated EU Deforestation Regulation to increasing governmental scrutiny over pre-packaged and processed food nutritional labelling and packaging, FoodNavigator-Asia brings you five of this year’s need-to-know regulatory updates for 2024.

Cheese-whiz: Japan announces incentives to boost domestically produced goods​

The Japanese government has announced financial incentive plans for the dairy industry and brands to boost consumer demand for locally-produced cheese

The country hopes this will slash waste and improve the sustainability of the domestic dairy industry.

According to the Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), these incentives will be offered at the dairy industry producer and product manufacturer levels.

Regulatory review: The Top 10 most-read APAC F&B regulation and policy stories in 2023​

We reveal the top 10 most viewed regulation and policy stories from the food and beverage industry in 2023, featuring the EU Deforestation Regulation, Malaysia milk regulations, South Korea recycled PET approval and more.

China approves American ginseng, ginseng, ganoderma for health foods filing​

American ginseng, ginseng, and ganoderma – also commonly known as Lingzhi, could be used for health foods filing in China starting from May 1, 2024.

The State Administration for Market Regulation made the announcement​ on December 31 last year.

With the approval, they are added to Health Food Raw Material Directory. Raw materials in the directory could be made into health foods that come with health claims pre-specified by the authorities.

Italian gov't bans cultivated meat, restricts plant-based meat labelling​

Italy’s government has announced the passing of a bill banning the production and marketing of cultivated meat. The measures, which also restrict labelling for plant-based products, aim to protect Italy’s traditional food culture.

The bill, which bans the production and promotion of cultivated meat, was passed by Italy’s Chamber of Deputies, its lower house. Anyone who breaches it could be subject to a fine of €60,000. The bill also includes restrictions on what manufacturers can call plant-based meat alternatives, preventing them from using meat-based names such as ‘salami’ or ‘steak.’