A government plan to enact a new law in or after fiscal 2009 to establish the traceability of all food products is timely and appropriate. People's trust in food labels, already undermined by previous incidents, was further shaken by a recent scandal in which Chinese eels were falsely labeled as domestic products.

The scandal involved Osaka-based Uohide and Shinko Gyorui, a Kobe-based company. In addition to the deceptive labeling, Uohide was found to have deceived consumers by falsifying the "eat-by" dates on packages of eels by six to 12 months. The company is suspected of having falsified the dates on most of 2.05 million Chinese grilled eels that it shipped with labels indicating that they were from Isshiki, Aichi Prefecture, a town famous for eel farming.

Shinko Gyorui, a subsidiary of Maruha-Nichiro Holding Inc., sold at least 390,000 of the 2.05 million Chinese eels shipped by Uohide. An antimicrobial agent that is prohibited in Japan was found on some of the eels that were stored in a Kobe warehouse.

The government plan to establish the traceability of food items will improve label content and help prevent falsification. Food-related firms will be required to keep records on production, processing, distribution and sales of their products. The new law will be synchronized with the launch of a Consumer Agency.

The eel scandal underscores the need for the government to work out a better system for receiving tip-offs from consumers and monitoring food-related firms. It also highlights a need to make necessary legal changes so that the government can promptly impose fines on firms that falsify food labels as well as confiscate illegally obtained profits. It is vital that food companies once again embrace the consumer-first principle.