On October 18, 2024, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) issued five standard bulletins, 551, 552, 553, 554 and 555, to revise five food standards.

(1) Revise the refined lard standard (JAS 0988:2024), including adding new reference standards and revising the detection methods of acid value and moisture content in products;

(2) Revise the margarine standard (JAS 0932:2024), specifically to allow the addition of flavor substances or additives such as fruit, nuts or cocoa in margarine, but the total amount of addition does not exceed 2.5%;

(3) Revise the shortening standard (JAS 0899:2024), including new reference standards, revision of product labeling requirements (requiring that the animal and plant oil raw materials added to shortening can not be labeled with specific names on the ingredient list, and are unified as "edible vegetable oil" and "edible animal oil");

(4) Revise the edible vegetable oil standard (JAS 0523:2024), specifically to add physical and chemical specifications of edible safflower oil products, revise the peroxide value test method of products, etc.;

(5) Revise the standard for refined edible oils and Fats (JAS 1424:2024), specifically to add reference standards and fine-tune some text expressions. The above amendments take effect from the date of publication.