Labeling in an Emergent Food Category: Informative or Performative?

• In Event: A Critical Look into the Classification of Emerging Entities

Abstract

The category of so called “health foods” in Japan includes foods for specified health uses (FoSHU) and food with nutrient function claims; such foods blur the category distinction between foods and drugs. The labels on the products carry information such as the stamp of approval by a regulatory agency along with health claims designed for marketing purposes, such as “fat deposition resistant.” So long as the regulatory safety evaluation has been completed, such claims on the label are permitted by the existing regulations. Consumers have somewhat contradictory expectations of health foods: they expect such foods to have drug-like effects, but food-like safety. These observations draw our attention to the professional and organizational activities that lead to the creation of labels. Food labels play a role in the evolution of power relationships between experts and laypeople: where consumers look to food labels for information supposedly provided by experts, marketers use scientific evidence to gain credibility for their messaging and to create particular perceptions of foods. Extending the analytical notion of “regulatory objectivity”, which has been used primarily in the analysis of biomedical entities, this presentation addresses the issues that arise around regulation and labeling of an emergent food category as a result of advances in science and technology, a theme that is understudied in STS, with a focus on the collective actions of concerned parties and the contradictions that arise from these actions. The data come primarily from observation at seminars and published reports by science academies and government agencies.

Author

• Tomiko Yamaguchi, International Christian University