Japan Releases the Japanese Agricultural Standards for Milled Rice and Organic Algae

On December 7, 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF) issued a notice that the "Japanese Agricultural Standards for Milled Rice (JAS0017:2021)" and "Japanese Agricultural Standards for Organic Algae (JAS0018:2021)" were established. The standards will become effective on January 6, 2022.

Japanese Agricultural Standards for Milled Rice

So far there are several milled rice standards established by the industry, such as "Rice Milling Appearance Quality" and "Guidelines for Quality Labeling of Rice", but these standards was implemented over 18 years ago. Therefore, to match the current situation and technological level, Japan MAFF newly stipulated the standards for rice milling.

The standards apply to domestic and imported milled rice (a short-grain variety of paddy/upland non-glutinous rice used for cooking). The quality indicators are as follows.

• Whiteness: above 39

• Moisture: less than 15.0%

• Foreign grains and matter: less than 0.0%

• Colored particles: less than 0.0%

• Damaged grain: less than 1%

• Powdery plasmid: less than 6%

• Broken kernel: less than 3%

• Cut kernel in water immersion: less than 10%

Japanese Agricultural Standards for Organic Algae

To maintain and improve the aquatic environment, "Japanese Agricultural Standards for Organic Algae" has been formulated to reduce the burden on the environment derived from algae production as much as possible, based on avoiding the use of chemically synthesized materials.

The standards apply to organic algae from domestic and imported fresh and processed (including seasoned). The main content includes product definition, organic algae production's general principles and cultivation specifications, product harvesting, transportation, processing, storage, packaging process management regulations, use conditions, and the "organic" claim on the product label, etc.

The followings are the labeling methods for claiming "organic":

• The name of organic algae classified as fresh foods

a. "Organic algae"

b. "Organic algae XX" or "XX (organic algae)"

c. "Organic XX" or "XX (organic)"

d. For algae produced in seawater, "seaweed" can be displayed instead of "algae".

• The name of organic algae classified as processed foods

a. "Organic XX" or "XX (organic)"

b. For raw material names of organic algae classified as processed foods, it is required to claim "organic" in the general name of the organic algae used.

In addition, MAFF stipulates the technical standards for certification of production process managers and foreign production process managers for organic algae. The standards mainly include facilities related to production and storage and methods for managing the production process.

At present, the international standards such as Codex and ISO have not been established for organic algae, but there are standards in the EU, Canada, Taiwan, etc.