Chapter 34 Shifting Risks Raises Costs

Now the food industry in Japan doesn’t even have a bit of authenticity, so whenever the truth of something is exposed, the happiest thing is newspapers and TV, which will report it in a big way and feature it in a big feature. "Fujiya uses expired ingredients, 'Hinay Chicken' is fake, 'Kagoshima Kuroge Wagyu' croquette is mixed with unidentified beef, Ishiya Seika's 'Shiroi Koibito' deceives consumers about the expiration date, 'Kago The island-grown radishes are actually made in China, the Nagoya Cochin-china chicken contains 20% goose meat, and 'Akafuku Confectionery' freezes leftover products and resells them..." Reports such as these are overwhelming. Enumeration, and now even more so.

In fact, when it comes to food, the most important questions are "whether the food is safe" and "whether it is harmful to the human body". Putting aside the issue of fake origin, let's talk about the shelf life issue first.The shelf life is something that the manufacturer can decide arbitrarily, and the food is not inedible just after the shelf life.In fact, in daily life, eating expired food happens from time to time, and the so-called "shelf life" is nothing more than that.Therefore, it is very debatable whether the issue of "false shelf life" reported by newspapers and TV as news is really news.

In fact, in countries that adhere to the principle of "at your own risk", for example, in the United States, there is no such thing as a shelf life.Only the production date or sale date of the product is marked on the product. As for when the buyer eats it, that is the consumer's own business and has nothing to do with the manufacturer.Therefore, when Americans buy meat and egg products, they always decide whether to buy after making their own judgments of "this is okay" and "that is not okay".Come to think of it, the Japanese have actually done this before.

In addition, Americans believe that food can be stored permanently after being frozen, and it is more convenient to have no shelf life and the like.That may be a bit of an exaggeration, because frozen things can also ruin your stomach.But because of this, the risk is borne by oneself, so it also enables consumers to accumulate a lot of knowledge about food and other commodities. In Japan, people are too obsessed with the issue of shelf life, so consumers cannot judge the risk independently.Therefore, if you go to a restaurant to eat, you don't have the awareness of packing the leftover food, because they don't know how long the food can be kept, so if there is a problem with the food taken away, they cannot bear the responsibility.In the United States, it is common to take home leftovers, which they call "doggybag".Even if it hurts your stomach, that's your own business.

Taken together, we will realize that Japanese consumers have given up the right to "think for themselves" and entrusted all rights to others.In other words, consumers in Japan do not have any demands on the government, and the government is only responsible for formulating some rules and regulations and setting up a consumer agency.In fact, it's just an institution to keep consumers and lawyers happy. So, have you ever thought that doing so will lead to increased costs? In Japan, health centers are very sensitive to the shelf life of food. I think there is only one job for health stations, which is to check the shelf life of food frequently.However, in many countries in the world, especially developing countries, there is still a phenomenon that even a rotten fish cannot be eaten.

If the Japanese, who are overprotective and in a state of nervousness, continue like this, they will probably become the weakest nation in the world in terms of diet.