Harvest Origin of Asari being In Question

The origin where asari is being harvested is questioning again. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has ordered investigation on asari from Kumamoto because they received reports that almost all of the supposedly asari from Kumamoto were from foreign waters and not caught domestically.

They said 97% of Kumamoto-produced lajonkairia lajonkai were from foreign countries.

There are concerns regarding the labeling of fresh foods that contain marine products such as lajonkairia lajon. According to the “Fresh Food Quality Labeling Standards.JAS Law, it requires companies to label their products with the place of harvest origin.

The labeling obligation for imported foods such as lajonkairia is such a rule. Rules are as follow;

For seafood

(1) Items landed at domestic ports- stating that the name where the fish was caught should be listed on the label. If for some reason, it would be difficult to enter the name of the area, the landing port / prefecture would be sufficient.

(2) When importing landed goods at a foreign port- For import products, the name of the country where the product originated should be stated. E.g., the fish was caught in the waters of North Korea, the label should state, “ made in North Korea.” It is important to note that after the importation, it is a normal rule to state the place of origin country even if it is cultivated temporarily in Japan for shipping and fish cleaning adjustments.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has been monitoring on daily basis that such rule of labeling be observed and performed strictly.

Covering the origin of production has been seen for the past 20 years and it appears to be in repetition and is not being attended to by the proper agencies. For all the marine products, Asari has been continuously detected.

Repeated production area camouflage

This kind of disguise of origin has been repeated over the past 20 years. For those involved in fisheries, it gives the impression of “again.” From the newspaper search, I picked up the past major production area camouflage cases. Since 2000, it has been obligatory to indicate the place of origin, but the disguise of the place of origin of Asari has been continuously detected.

The government has been very cautious about labeling the product origin to avoid issues in the future. In the past, there were issue of food poisoning and the government is unable to track who should be responsible because the label on the food product was tampered to a different fishing port of origin.

The main purpose of the government to be strict and obliging these companies to follow such measure is to save the economy as well.

We are still under pandemic, the economy is starting and slowly falling into place, but if these companies would bring in products from the outside ( other countries), how will they help their own farmers and fishermen? How will it help the economy? Of course the products from foreign countries will compete with the local products, but the foreign products will be sold at a very low price and the consumers tend to go to the lower products ( imported) than buying their own products. And who knows, if these imported products were thoroughly inspected.

Government is urging to be vigilant and compliant with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries regarding label of origin.