About 20% of the products in Japan's "functional foods" labeling system have withdrawn their claims over a lack of scientific evidence or due to termination of their sales, the Mainichi Shimbun has learned.

The system, allowing businesses to label health benefits and other information under their own responsibility, was established as part of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's "Abenomics" growth strategy in 2015. The latest development, disclosed by the Consumer Affairs Agency, has underscored the voices of concern raised from the outset over ensuring safety of food products.

Under the system, businesses can label foods' claimed health benefits by submitting scientific evidence about their safety and functionality to the government. Since only a notification is required, regulations arc lax for these products compared to foods for specified health uses, which require national government screenings.

The agency guidelines require businesses to withdraw health benefit labels if they terminate production or sale of the items, or if the scientific evidence of their safety or functionality is newly found to be insufficient.

According to the agency, there were 8,198 notifications for food products with functional claims as of April 8. Of these, 1,521, or 18.5%, withdrew their claims. How many were withdrawn due to a lack of scientific evidence was not revealed.

In June last year, the agency issued an administrative order to Sakura Forest Inc., based in the city of Fukuoka, for violating the false labeling law on the grounds that the company's functionally labeled food supplements claiming to "lower triglycerides," among other benefits, lacked scientific evidence. The order, issued based on papers and documents submitted by the company, demanded that it prevent a recurrence. The agency investigated 88 cases in which other companies used the same ingredients, and 57 products were withdrawn.

Regarding the close to 20% withdrawal rate, an agency official explained, "Since this is a notification system, increases and decreases in numbers are inevitable."

Source: THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS

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