Endangered Tradition: Plum Farmer’s are in Danger of Disappearing of Japan’s Rich Plum Culture at Roadside Stations
Pickles” production is now subject to a permit system… making it difficult to sell handmade pickles…
The pickles industry is now on the verge of a crisis. The amendment of the Food Sanitation Law has made the production of pickles subject to a permit system, which requires facilities that meet sanitary standards, making it difficult to sell handmade pickles that have been exhibited at roadside stations throughout Japan and prepared by farmers at their homes or workshops.
The revised law went into effect in 2009. On June 1 of this year, after a transitional period of three years, the law will be fully implemented.
The news featured many heartbreaking voices, including those of farmers who decided to close down their businesses, and I wondered if there was anything that could be done. With that in mind, I found the following post on X (formerly Twitter) on January 11.
‘If you already have/can get a new pickle manufacturing license, you can of course continue to sell your products. However, since there are various stipulations regarding pickling equipment, the hurdle is a high one, with a lot of cost burdens for those who were individually pickling at home. The Ume Boys spent 40 million yen to build a new production facility.
This is a tweet by Mr. Shoshiro Yamamoto
He dropped out of graduate school and started researching traditional pickled plums made with “salt and shiso.
Mr. Yamamoto grew up in a five-generation ume farming family and was doing research at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Hokkaido University. However, when his eldest son, who took over the farm, told him that he did not find it rewarding after growing ume because all the ume would have a uniform taste with sweet seasoning solution, he started research on simple, old-fashioned pickled plums pickled with only salt and shiso. He dropped out of graduate school and started his own umeboshi shop.
When we asked Mr. Yamamoto what he thought of the recent amendment to the law, he gave us a surprising answer.
He replied, “I think the amendment is a move to make it stricter by making it a permit system, whereas until now we were only required to report the production of pickles.
However, while we have not heard much about the case of pickled plums, there have actually been cases of food poisoning in the case of pickles that are not highly salted, such as pickled Chinese cabbage and pickled asa pickles, so I am partly convinced.
Dedicated kitchens will be needed… “It will cost at least 1.5 million yen.”
The major difference in the change from a notification system to a permit system is the requirement to have a dedicated kitchen. Specifically, the difference is that two sinks will be required and a toilet will be
