Consumer Protection Quiz | Reading Nutrition, Health Claims and Organic JAS Labels, Set 6

A provides 480 kcal per 100 g, so 30 g provides 480 × 30 ÷ 100 = 144 kcal. B's value is already given for the 40 g bag being eaten, so it provides 160 kcal. B therefore provides 16 kcal more in one sitting. Values must be converted using both the stated basis—such as per 100 g or per package—and the amount actually eaten.

The calculation is 600 × 2.54 ÷ 1,000 = 1.524 g, which rounds to 1.5 g. The figure 0.6 g is merely 600 mg of sodium converted to grams, not its salt equivalent. On ordinary Japanese nutrition labels, sodium is generally declared as salt equivalent.

The five basic mandatory entries are energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate and sodium expressed as salt equivalent. Dietary fiber is recommended and may be included, but it does not replace salt equivalent. The correct response is therefore to add salt equivalent without deleting the existing entries.

Ingredients are generally listed so that their order by weight is clear, allowing wheat flour, sugar and vegetable oil to be read in descending order here. The order does not disclose exact formulation percentages or establish that the first ingredient exceeds 50%. Separate rules may also apply to compound ingredients and certain exceptions.

When the ingredient subject to origin labeling is fresh, its origin is shown; when it is itself a processed food, its place of manufacture is shown. Here, “manufactured in Japan” describes the manufacturing location of the processed apple juice. It does not establish where the apples were grown or the origins of every other ingredient.

“No sugar added” concerns whether sugars were added; it does not mean that sugars naturally present in the ingredients are zero. Sugars originating in fruit juice may therefore appear in the nutrition values. “Zero sugars” is a different claim that must satisfy the threshold for an absence claim.

Claims such as “30% less” or “half” are relative claims: they state how much was reduced compared with something else. In addition to meeting the required absolute and relative differences, the label must identify the comparison food and the amount or percentage reduced. This is different from making a simple “low” claim.

Foods for Specified Health Uses receive individual government authorization. Foods with Function Claims use premarket notification and display functions under the business's responsibility. Foods with Nutrient Function Claims are self-certified products that may use standardized wording when the nutrient criteria are met. All three are Foods with Health Claims, but government review and filing are not identical.

Under this system, a business files information on safety and functionality before sale and makes the claim under its own responsibility. Unlike Foods for Specified Health Uses, the product's effect is not individually reviewed and approved by the government. The notified claim and summaries of its basis are publicly available, allowing buyers to compare them with the advertisement.

Agricultural products, livestock products and processed foods may be labeled organic only when the Organic JAS requirements are followed and a certified operator applies the Organic JAS mark. A grower's own statement about pesticide use does not satisfy that labeling condition, and an ordinary JAS mark does not substitute for the Organic JAS mark.