Posted on 11/11/2013 10:00:36 PM PST by TexGrill
The government plans to draw up guidelines to tackle dishonest menus and food labels that have been used by many hotels, restaurants and department stores across Japan.
At a meeting Monday of officials from relevant agencies, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga asked for effective measures to ensure suitable representations of dishes and food products at such locations.
The government will work out guidelines under the law against unjustified premiums and misleading representations, Suga said, urging the agencies to make sure inappropriate representations are corrected as soon as they are discovered.
The dishonest labeling issue “could fundamentally undermine consumer trust in food,” Suga warned. “The government needs to take thorough steps.”
The government will stop the false labeling problem from spreading any further, vowed Consumer Affairs Minister Masako Mori, who also attended the meeting. She called for “swift action” to restore consumer confidence.
The government agencies will release the results of their investigations into the sectors they supervise, as well as preventive measures, by the end of November.
Other participants at the meeting included officials from the health and agriculture ministries and the Fair Trade Commission.
(Excerpt) Read more at japantimes.co.jp ...
It’s about time.
Isn’t there a “free market” way of solving the problem - like suing the people that misrepresent the product?
Or simply avoiding those places?
Or giving crappy reviews on Yelp (or whatever they have in Japan)?
Must we always have a new government agency to “protect” us??
It is rather nice.
“Japan does not have many lawyers and they tend not to sue.”
That’s fine... how about the other two options?
The problem is we have the agencies but they really don’t protect us.
One of the consumer magazines tested fish at supermarkets and restaurants and found more than half were selling cheaper fish marked as something like red snapper.
Interesting to me was that wal-mart was the only one with perfect labeling.
You don't want to give them a thumbs down.
Next the Japanese government will be telling their people when to get up, when to go to the toilet and what to wear to work.
Those solutions aren’t realistic. What about a Molotov Cocktail?
“The problem is we have the agencies but they really don’t protect us.”
Exactly - look how well the SEC protected the Madoff investors. Or how all the agencies that cover the banks prevented liars loans and subprime garbage. Not only most agencies don’t protect us, but more often than not they collude with the miscreants - they get coopted by the very entities that they’re supposed to regulate.
And on top of that, they create a false sense of security that we are protected, like your fish example.
“Interesting to me was that wal-mart was the only one with perfect labeling.”
Probably because they have the most to lose, just like Costco.
“In the case of mislabeled food you are likely to find that the operation is Yakuza run.”
Even in Yelp?
But if the problem is a criminal organization like the mafia, passing a labeling law is hardly going to make much of an impression on them. That means that whoever tries to enforce it would be well advised to get some knee insurance.
“Those solutions aren’t realistic. What about a Molotov Cocktail?”
Well, that could be an creative alternative or complement to a negative Yelp review. :)
Japan is one of the freest places we have left, but the government is slowly encroaching on common sense here too.
LOL. You win.
“Hey Barack! All that wagyu steak you thought you were eating? Beef-flavored dog turds. Hahahahahahaha!”
I am not sure why fraud is something you think the government should not investigate.
One of the cornerstones of a free market society is that there are property laws that are strictly enforced by a just court system.
What is a “just” court system?
I know we don’t have one in America.
They fear that everyone in Japan would stop trusting food and turn to cannibalism or something? Isn’t that only legal in Tokyo and Nagano?
And the fact we are fast losing our just court system is one reason property rights are disappearing so fast.
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