Reviewing Rice Price Surge and Rebuilding Supply Policies | Chapter 4Building Food Security and Sustainable Food Systems

Against a backdrop of population decline, depopulation, and changes in income distribution, responding to people who have difficulty purchasing or eating food and those who cannot obtain sufficient food for economic reasons has become a policy challenge. Policies are advancing to secure food access in normal times by combining local support systems, distribution services, food banks, and children's cafeterias.

The food industry is a major destination for domestic agricultural, forestry, and fishery products and provides the foundation for a stable supply connecting agriculture with consumers. To develop the food industry, stable transactions with agricultural, forestry, and fishery producers, distribution rationalization, reduced environmental impact, advanced technologies, standards and certifications such as JAS, and business succession are being addressed as an integrated set of measures.

As the costs of production materials and raw materials continue to rise, sustaining supply requires understanding costs from production through processing, distribution, and retail, and achieving price formation acceptable to sellers, buyers, and consumers. Food safety efforts seek to ensure safety from farm to table through risk assessment, management, and communication based on scientific knowledge.

Expanding mobile sales, support buses, delivery services, food donations, and meal provision for people who have difficulty shopping or face economic hardship supports opportunities to obtain food in local communities. In emergencies such as disasters, maintaining and strengthening supply chains and providing push-based assistance directly support the continued supply of food to the public.

Stable transactions between the food industry and agricultural, forestry, and fishery producers, standardization and digitalization of logistics, modal shifts, and the use of AI and robots contribute to improving supply capacity and productivity. Certification systems and support through financing, tax measures, and the provision of equipment help businesses continue operations and promote resource circulation with regional agriculture.

If transactions that account for costs become established, they will support the management foundations of agricultural and food businesses and contribute to maintaining supply over the long term. At the same time, consumers face both the need to understand price increases and the burden on household budgets, making efforts to explain the background to prices necessary.

Food safety risk management, labeling, traceability, and recall responses affect the prevention of health damage and the maintenance of consumer trust. Local production for local consumption, choosing domestic ingredients, food education, and the transmission of washoku culture broaden consumer participation in local economies and food systems.

Since fiscal 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has compiled the Support Measures Package for Securing Food Access with related ministries and agencies and has encouraged local governments and private businesses to use it through nationwide campaigns. Since fiscal 2011, it has provided information through municipal surveys and a portal site while advancing region-specific measures such as shopping-support buses, mobile sales vehicles, and drone delivery. In Goto City, Nagasaki Prefecture, autonomous drones deliver medicines, daily necessities, and food to remote islands, and orders are accepted through social media as well as by telephone and fax.

Food banks and children's cafeterias combine the provision of unused food, matching with companies, and the free distribution of government-stockpiled rice. Food Donation Guidelines were established in December 2024, and Mie Prefecture's Mie-eru program had completed matching for approximately 41 tonnes of food in 945 cases by the end of March 2026. Free distribution of stockpiled rice to children's cafeterias began in fiscal 2020, and food banks supporting food education activities were added as eligible recipients in November 2024.

Under the law promoting the sustainable supply of food and related products, a certification system has been established for businesses that systematically conduct stable transactions with agricultural, forestry, and fishery producers, rationalize distribution, reduce environmental impact, and support consumer choice, with related provisions taking effect in October 2025. Certified plans provide long-term low-interest financing, tax incentives, and the provision of equipment and other facilities. In logistics, shippers and logistics operators have been subject to a duty to make efforts toward efficiency since April 2025, while businesses above a certain scale will be required to submit medium- to long-term plans and regular reports from April 2026.

The public-private task force on logistics for agricultural, forestry, fishery, and food products has identified pallet standardization, digitalization, the review of business practices, modal shifts, and relay transportation as priority areas toward fiscal 2030. Wholesale markets receive support for facility development needed for cold chains and joint relay logistics. In technology, research and development, demonstration, and adoption of AI and robots are supported to improve productivity in food manufacturing, and a public-private investment roadmap for food tech is also being considered.

JAS is being expanded as a system covering not only quality but also handling methods, production methods, and testing methods. In fiscal 2025, preparations were undertaken toward establishing standards for almond milk and specialists promoting Japanese tea, while standards for processed tomato products and locally raised chicken were reviewed. Under organic equivalence arrangements, livestock products and alcoholic beverages with the EU were added in May 2025, alcoholic beverages with the United States and the United Kingdom were added in October of the same year, and procedures were advanced toward entry into force from fiscal 2026 for livestock products from the United Kingdom as well.

Regarding price formation, the agricultural production materials price index was 127.7 in February 2026, while the agricultural terms-of-trade index was 110.3. Based on the Food System Law, both sellers and buyers are subject to duties to make efforts to consult and cooperate, with criteria for judgment, guidance and advice, recommendations, and public disclosure established. In January 2026, an ordinance was promulgated designating rice, vegetables, tofu, natto, and drinking milk as designated food and beverage products, while Food G-Men have been investigating transaction practices since October 2025.

Food safety consists of risk assessment by the Food Safety Commission, risk management by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Consumer Affairs Agency, among others, and risk communication with relevant stakeholders. In fiscal 2025, 43 hazardous chemical substances and 15 hazardous microorganisms were investigated, and the reassessment of 32 pesticide ingredients was initiated. Measures against Campylobacter include promoting the heating of the center of chicken meat to at least 75°C for at least 1 minute.

Efforts are advancing to improve the accuracy of food labeling, provide nutrition labeling and allergy information, and promote rice traceability and the use of internal records. Notification of food recalls became mandatory in June 2021, and as of the end of March 2025, 6,319 voluntary recalls disclosed under the Food Labeling Act had been reported, with allergens the most common reason at 3,297 cases.

In food consumption, energy intake per person per day was 1,859 kcal in 2024, while monthly food consumption expenditure per person in 2025 was approximately 31,000 yen in nominal terms and approximately 25,000 yen in real terms. The 2024 market size for food products sold through e-commerce was 3.1163 trillion yen, the e-commerce ratio was approximately 4.5%, and sales in the prepared-food market were 11.3 trillion yen. Measures to address high prices include vouchers, electronic coupons, local points, rice vouchers, and in-kind food benefits.

To expand consumption of domestic agricultural products, annual rice consumption per person was 53.4 kg in fiscal 2024, and the Onigiri Project is being promoted. Vegetable consumption was 83.3 kg, and the Eat Vegetables Project is being implemented to approach the target of 350 g per person per day. Consumers engaged in local production for local consumption accounted for 34.9%, while 23.6% of consumers chose domestic ingredients when shopping or eating out.