Announcement: My Food Safety Ranking Book Published By Kodansha

My Food Safety Ranking Book has been published by Kodansha and is now in bookshops around the country. You can also order it on the Internet.

I spent about a year carefully reading company websites, looking at ingredient lists, company news releases, and checked shops and other sources. Finally, the book puts 555 different foods to the test: The best get 3 stars, and the rest 2 or (in many cases) 1 star each. I checked if the company has good information about where the ingredients come from, especially if they are locally produced or imported. This, of course, contributes to global warming: we need to think more about issues like food mileage and irrigation in foreign lands... I also listed if the companies are avoiding genetically modified ingredients or not. Some 80% of consumers here in Japan say they want to avoid GMOs, but that can be difficult in many cases. That's why you need my guidebook ;)

Organic food products get higher rankings, but if a locally made food is available, and seems to have been farmed with great care for the environment, then they are often preferable to an organic product that has been imported. While better in terms of biodiversity and safety for farmers, who don't use toxic pesticides, organic foods are still a very small segment in Japan. Shockingly, some foods are imported by jet plane - not a very sustainable way to feed Japan. Shipping by boat in containers isn't much better for the environment, with massive green house gas emissions.

Generally, I find the food at Japan's many supermarkets and shops to be safe and delishious. Yes, there are additives like MSG in many products, but less other harmful additives than in many other countries. I had trouble with meat products: most contain preservatives that I simply cannot recommend. Avoid!

We took great photos at a small restaurant run by the charming Enomoto-san here in Hanno, Saitama, and my editors have been fantastic. A special thanks to my diligent proofreader, Mashiko-san, who has read each draft and carefully fixed all my spelling mistakes. The design was done by Hosobuchi-san at Studio Give in Minami Aoyama, who also created the different symbols that will help readers use this little guidebook...

Kodansha is Japan's largest publishing house and I had many fun editing meetings at the office in Gokokuji, Tokyo. Now I really hope this will be a best seller!

Official blog: Gendai Premier

このブログでは本書より、順次「安全な食品」を紹介しますのでお楽しみに。紹介ジャンルについては下のリンクから、各ページでのランキングの基準などは上の「まえがき」をご覧ください。

「ニッポン食の安全ランキング555」
ISBN：978-4-06-214970-9
出版社：講談社
著者名： マーティン・フリッド　著

この本は、いま日本で販売されている食品をよりよく理解するためのガイドブックとして作成しました。大きな食品企業の代表的な食品から多くの小さな会社の食品まで、まんべんなく調査をし、集録してあります。各項には、よく知られている加工食品のほか、インターネットなどでしか買えない食品も掲げました。

わたしがおすすめできるヘルシーで安心なたくさんの食品の例をランク付けしました。

(前書きから）

これが安全ランキング555！
醤油／味噌／砂糖／食酢／みりん／ソース／ケチャップ／タレ／マヨネーズ／卵／ドレッシング／油／生クリーム／チーズ／バター/マーガリン／ヨーグルト／牛乳／豆乳／レトルト食品／みそ汁／冷凍食品／缶詰／小麦粉／天ぷら粉／ハチミツ／麺類／パン／シリアル／ソーセージ／ハンバーグ／ミートボール／ハム／ベーコン／鶏肉／かまぼこ／ちくわ／はんぺん／とうふ／こんにゃく／油揚げ／納豆／酒／ビール／ワイン／ジュース／お茶／コーヒー……
これ1冊で安心推薦品がわかる

ついに出た！日本のフードリテラシーを高める「食」の安全マニュアル

For inquiries please write to: fridfrid ( a t ) hotmail.com
Subject: 555 Ranking