Glossary

This category consists of food products where manufacturers make claims based on scientific evidence concerning specific functions. Prior to selling these products, manufacturers are required to provide the Consumer Affairs Agency with evidence regarding safety and functions and other information. The approval of this agency is not required in order to sell food products in this category, whereas food for specified health uses must be certified individually by this agency.

The baby leaf category includes a variety of vegetable products consisting of the young leaves. Consumers can benefit from the many nutrients that leaves contain at this early stage of development.

Kalish is a new vegetable that is a combination of kale and a daikon radish This plant was developed by Kagome and the Nagano Prefecture Vegetable and Ornamental Crops Experiment Station.

A vegan diet has no meat or fish and also excludes dairy and all other products derived from animals in order to consume only plant-based foods.

Biogenics research has the goal of utilizing vegetable nutrients to give people more energy. Probiotic research aims to increase the functions of lactic acid bacteria.

This research covers the amount of nutrients required at each stage of life, which is the conventional field of study, as well as research concerning how efficiently nutrients are absorbed by the body.

Lactic acid bacteria can be produced by fermenting vegetables, beans, rice, barley and other plant-based materials. In Japan, plant-derived lactic acid bacteria are used in many types of food products. Examples include pickled vegetables, miso, and fermented rice products such as sake. This category of lactic acid bacteria differs from the animal-derived type associated with the fermentation of milk.