Ministry Aims to Standardized Product Information by FY 2026; Cited as Solution for Labor Shortages, Rising Costs

The Yomiuri Shimbun

7:00 JST, February 7, 2025

The trade ministry plans to standardize the way information is labeled on processed foods and daily goods to create a data infrastructure that can be shared among distributers.

Under the current system, the information is independently managed by each food maker. The envisaged infrastructure is expected to help the distribution industry streamline its operations.

The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry will work with major supermarkets and food makers to bring about practical application of the standardized system in fiscal 2026. It hopes the initiative will also facilitate collaborative logistics.

The ministry will invite major food retail chains, makers and wholesalers — including Aeon Co., Seven & i Holdings Co., Life Corp., Ajinomoto Co., Lion Corp. and Kokubu Group Corp. — to join a public-private council and begin designing a system. The council will be established this fiscal year.

Various information is labeled on products. Processed food, for example, is required to display allergens, nutrition facts and the ingredients’ country of origin in addition to basic information such as the product’s name and net weight. Product images used for online shopping and flyers must be properly managed, too.

At present, the way such information is managed has not been standardized. As a result, each maker has its own management system, leading to differences in the way product identification numbers and information is labeled depending on the maker. Wholesalers obtain the information from makers and manually touch up or register product data for each retail chain. However, a lack of manpower has made it difficult for them to keep up, leading to typing errors that result in erroneous orders and deliveries.

The data infrastructure scheme is expected to streamline wholesale operations and enable inventory and sales data to be visualized, which could be utilized in market research. Products would be more easily identifiable, which could result in the introduction of labor-saving robots to inventory management and in a logistics solution through collaborative logistics. The ministry is aiming for a 35% cut to the workload of the distribution industry by 2050.

Price hikes for products and steep increases in utility and labor costs make it difficult every year for retailers to keep sales prices down.

“If we can streamline our operation with standardization, we can reflect the cost cut in our prices,” a Life executive said. The initiative is expected to bring significant benefits to consumers.

The standardization will start with processed foods and daily goods and then expand to a range of products. The ministry plans to get more businesses involved, including drugstores, convenience stores and home appliance retailers.