Ⅰ. Establishment of inspection certification system for organic products
1. Amid growing concerns of consumers over food safety and health consciousness, flooding of the labellings such as "organic", "reduced amount
of pesticide", etc. became a hindrance to consumers' appropriate choice."Guidelines for Organic Agricultural Products and Specially Cultivated
Agricultural Products" were established in 1992, and the proper labeling hadbeen tried, but organic products were not labelled appropriately, criteria of organic production were not unified and the labeling was confused as ever because of no legal force of the guidelines.
2. On the international front, the Codex Alimentarius Commission ( Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme) had started to discuss for the
establishment of the guideline of organic products. In 1999, the Codex Commission adopted the "Guidelines for the Production, Processing, Labeling
and Marketing of Organically Produced Foods"( GL32-1999).
3.In the light of these circumstances, the Japanese Agricultural Standards( JAS standards) for organic plants and organic processed foods were established and labelling of oraganic products were made to be proper in accordance with revision of the Law Concerning Standardization and Proper Labeling of Agricultural and Forestry Products ( JAS Law) in 1999. (Since then, JAS standards for organic livestock products and feeds were established.)
4. The JAS standards for organic products were laid out in compliance with the Codex Guidelines. In such other countries as United States, EU, etc. those organic standards were also laid out in compliance with the Codex Guidelines.
