Japan Proposes Amendment to Food Labelling Standards to Add Cashew Nuts as a Mandatory Allergen

"The Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) of Japan released an overview of a proposed partial revision to the Food Labelling Standards under the Food Labelling Act, together with related provisions of the Cabinet Office Order prescribing matters that have a significant impact on food safety. 
Objective of the Revision
The proposed amendments aim to enhance consumer protection by ensuring that food labels provide sufficient information to allow consumers to make autonomous and rational food choices, particularly in relation to food safety risks.

Products Covered
The proposed revisions apply to: Cashew nuts, and Processed foods sold in Japan that contain cashew nuts or cashew nut–derived ingredients.

Key Proposed Revisions

Addition of Cashew Nuts as a Specified Allergenic Ingredient
The CAA noted a sustained increase in: The number of immediate-type food allergy cases involving cashew nuts among tree nuts, and

The proportion of cashew nut allergy cases relative to total tree nut allergy cases.

As this trend is not considered temporary, the Food Labelling Standards are proposed to be amended to add cashew nuts to the list of “specified allergenic ingredients.”
If adopted, cashew nuts must be declared on food labels when used as ingredients or when additives derived from cashew nuts are present.

Review of Additional Regulations for Specific Foods
The proposal also includes a review of food-specific labelling rules to ensure alignment with:

General food labelling requirements, and

Current social and market conditions.

This review may result in the elimination of labelling items that can be substituted by general labelling rules, as well as quality-related items that are no longer necessary for mandatory labelling.

Legal Basis

The proposed revisions concern:Food Labelling Standards (Cabinet Office Ordinance No. 10 of 2015),
issued pursuant to the Food Labelling Act (Act No. 70 of 2013).

If finalized, the amendments would impose new allergen labelling obligations on food business operators marketing cashew-containing products in Japan"