Shinzo Abe’s administration approved a bill of amendments to the Law Concerning Standardization, etc. of Agricultural and Forestry Products, or Japanese Agricultural Standard (JAS) Law, at its cabinet meeting held on February 28, by which the government guarantees qualities of food products manufactured on the basis of certain quality standards.
The amendments of the Law is to aim at additionally applying the JAS system to cultivation practices peculiar to Japan as well as transportation means for keeping freshness of products.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) submitted the proposed amendment of the Law to the Diet on the same day.
“We can hope the revision of the JAS Law will be useful to boost exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products,” MAFF’s Minister Yuji Yamamoto said at a press meeting held after the cabinet meeting.
The JAS system currently provides standards only regarding qualities of specific kinds of raw materials and ingredients of food products.
The revision of the JAS Law will make it possible for MAFF to fix new standards for the JAS system including production practices of crops and foods, temperature-controlled transportation, and functional food testings.
Consideration on how to provide JAS standards in concrete will be made at MAFF’s panel meeting after the JAS Law revision is approved at the Diet.