Cause３：「One third」rule
What is the 1/3 rule? Where are they used?
◎「One third rule」
A Japanese custom that began in the 1990s.
In order to prevent products with expired dates from lining up in stores, the idea was that “manufacturers,” “retailers,” and “consumers” divided their expiration dates by “1/3”.
Share the expiration date ...? What does it mean...?？？
It's hard to understand just by words.
For example, if the expiration date from when it is made to when it is eaten is "6 months", applying the 1/3 rule will result in the structure shown below!
●If the expiration date is 6 months...
It's an ingenuity to make it possible for consumers to sell with a best-before date.
But you don't have to throw away food that hasn't expired yet....
Yes！
Because of this mechanism, those who are supposed to have a "long life" are being thrown away every day....
As a countermeasure, there is a "refund" system, but at present it is not so effective....
＊Returns
Products that are not sold by the sales deadline may be returned to the manufacturer without being discarded.
Manufacturers have to buy another retail store or resell it to a discount store until they pay the "sales incentive", but eventually 80% of the returned products are discarded.
1/3 rule is unique to Japan
What's more, these rules have been independently developed in the Japanese food industry.
It has been pointed out that Japanese food hygiene rules are too strict compared to other countries.
＊Other countries
●America → １／２rule
●Europe → ２／３rule