In this page, you will find the interview with a business that has acquired JFS Standard, in which they describe their efforts toward acquiring JFS Standard and the effects they have achieved after acquisition.

This article was produced under a project subsidized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 2023.

Ueo Confectionery Co.

　Ueo Seika Co., Ltd. is headquartered in Ujitawara-cho, Tsuduki-gun, Kyoto Prefecture, and mainly manufactures "Japanese sweets that last a long time," such as Japanese-style ramune, rakugan, and amber sugar. Unusually for the Japanese confectionery industry, where 90% of confectioneries are made and sold at the company's own stores, the company operates as a manufacturer and wholesaler without a physical store. When the company was first established, it was engaged in the bulk sales of such products as "kagan" (wild geese), but sensing the needs of the times, it began to manufacture seasonal confections and souvenir sweets as well. In recent years, the company has also focused on the production of character-inspired Japanese confections. In February 2024, the company received the JFS-B standard for the production of Japanese-style marshmallows and dried confections. We interviewed Mr. Shota Enoki, General Manager of the Production Department, and Mr. Fumiaki Ueo, who led the efforts to obtain the JFS-B standard, about the purpose of the standard and how it will be utilized in the future.

-Please tell us about the background behind your acquisition of the JFS-B standard.

Ueo: The main reason is that we have been receiving an increasing number of OEM orders. Since Japanese confectioneries manufactured by our company are sold under the brand name of the customer, quality checks are inevitably more stringent before starting a transaction. Before starting a transaction, a quality control person from the customer may visit our factory. If anything happens to the customers who eat our wagashi, the value of our brand is lost, so we have to be very strict in our quality checks. We have been very careful about hygiene for a long time, so there is nothing that we are worried about being seen, but it puts a burden on the factory, and as a company, we do not like to be seen. This will also convey to our customers that we adhere to strict standards for food hygiene. We decided to acquire the JFS-B standard in the hope that it would enable us to start new business more smoothly than before.

-Do you feel that customers are demanding higher hygiene standards than before?

Ueo: We feel this very strongly, and with HACCP becoming mandatory, more and more customers are demanding a higher level of food hygiene standards. We are confident in our sanitation, but we believe that we cannot gain the trust of our customers unless we have some kind of proof . That is why it is very beneficial to obtain a highly reliable certification (letter of conformance) such as the JFS-B standard.

-What is the reaction of your customers to your acquisition of the JFS-B standard?

Ueo: As expected, they are reassured. When we told them that we were planning to acquire the JFS-B standard, they eased their quality control checks before starting business with us. Normally, a representative would come to our factory to check, but that process has been eliminated. I was surprised to see such a drastic change in the response of a company that operates several stores throughout Japan. We realized that food sanitation assurance by a third-party organization is much more reliable than we had imagined.

-What were the reasons for choosing the JFS-B standard among the various certifications (letter of conformance) available?

Ueo：Because it is a certification (letter of conformance) that originated in Japan, and we had heard that it was very easy to use. Not only that, but some of our competitors in the same industry had acquired the JFS-B standard before us, and we had been interested in it for some time. We also decided that it would be easier for us to gain the trust of our customers because of our compliance with HACCP. We considered obtaining international certification (letter of conformance), but the Japanese confectionery industry is very domestic, and we thought that international certification (letter of conformance) would not be a good match for our business.

-Did your efforts to acquire the JFS-B standard go smoothly?

Enoki: We had very little experience in obtaining certification (letter of conformance), so at first we were worried about whether we would actually be able to obtain it. However, the requirements and guidelines were very easy to understand, and as a result of following them, we were able to acquire the standard without running into any major obstacles. We had to clarify the conventional manufacturing method, which was a bit of a challenge, but it did not cause any major delays. If the company had experience in obtaining other certifications (letter of conformance) in the past, it would have been much smoother.

-How did employees react to the acquisition of the JFS-B standard?

Enoki: Many employees were puzzled at first. All of our employees are enthusiastic about their work and have a very high awareness of food hygiene, but they had no experience in obtaining any kind of certification (letter of conformance), so they did not understand the significance and benefits of obtaining the standard. With the accumulated experience, we had established a system to efficiently manufacture Japanese confectioneries, but this system does not meet the JFS-B standard. We had to come to a compromise between obtaining certification (letter of conformance) and production efficiency. We could not obtain the JFS-B standard without the cooperation of our employees who were involved in the manufacturing process on site, so we met with them and carefully explained to them the significance and benefits of obtaining the standard. I believe that our employees have grown a lot during the process of acquiring the JFS-B standard.

-What is your vision after acquiring the JFS-B standard?

Ueo:Since we have taken the trouble to acquire the standard, we would like to actively utilize it to expand our sales channels. We have been doing business with distributors and retailers throughout Japan for some time, but we believe there is still much room for expansion. OEMs have been doing well recently, and we recognize that the company is entering a period of significant growth. I believe that the JFS-B standard, which certifies the high level of food sanitation, will be a great weapon for our company to expand our sales channels. We used to do very little exporting, but now we intend to get serious about it. We are considering acquiring JFS-C certification (letter of conformance) as well, since we are not sure if JFS-B standards are sufficient for full-scale exporting.

-Please give a message to companies that are planning to acquire the JFS standard.

Enoki: The JFS standard is not something that can be acquired immediately. It may be necessary to review manufacturing methods and develop traceability, and employees on site must understand the significance and benefits of acquisition. However, we believe that the benefits of acquisition are very significant. The assurance of a high level of food hygiene should make it easier to expand sales channels, and it will also provide an opportunity for employees to acquire knowledge of food safety. For a company that is still growing as a food manufacturer, obtaining a highly reliable certification (letter of conformance) like the JFS standard is essential, don't you think?

-Thank you very much for your time today.

Company Profile
Company Name: Ueo Seika Corporation
Representative: Toshiya Enoki
Address: Head Office and Factory 34-1 Nitidaueyama,
Ujitawara-cho, Tsuduki-gun, Kyoto 610-0253, Japan
Founded: June 1980
URL: https://ueoseika.com/index.htm

The Japanese version of the interview is available in the PDF below.

Disclaimer: The translation process used on this English website is partially offered by a "machine translation" for your convenience. This translated document is provided for information purposes only. In the event of a difference of interpretation or a dispute, the original Japanese version of this document is binding.