Japan Press Weekly

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2014 October 8 - 14 [POLITICS]

Health ministry to promote sales of ‘healthy’ boxed meals

A working group in Japan’s health ministry on October 6 decided on criteria and a certification mark for the “wholesomeness” of ready-made boxed meals sold at convenience stores and supermarkets. This move is in response to the demands of food-related businesses.

The working group members include executives of companies selling boxed lunches and providing meal delivery services, such as Lawson Inc. and Shidax Corporation.

The criteria, for example, provide that the amount of calories in a meal should be limited to 650 kcal and that salt content should be below three grams. On the other hand, it has no standards for food additives and preservatives that may adversely affect human health.

On top of that, whether boxed meals meet the criteria depends on the food-composition tables which are made by meal providers. Neither the health ministry nor an independent organization will examine the composition.

The standards were worked out based on the economic strategy of the government led by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. The Abe administration is keen to help convenience store chains increase their profits, even calling them a business to extend people’s healthy life spans.

A working group member from Lawson said openly, “The introduction of the certification mark is very helpful to our business as it will attract many customers.”

Past related article:
> Japan’s convenience store chain gives fake pay raise [May 29, 2013]