Co-creation platform "T Card Everyone's Ethical Food Lab" "What is ethical food?" Announcement of "Ethical Food Standards" to create an ethical food market in Japan

2022.03.30 Press Releases
CCC Marketing Co., Ltd.

- Going forward, an "Ethical Food Action Score" based on the "Ethical Food Standards" will be provided to consumers -

Since March 2021, CCC Marketing Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Kazuhiko Kitamura) has been working on the "T Card Everyone's Ethical Food Lab," a co-creation platform that utilizes T's unique data*1 and assets to think about and take action on ethical food actions that lead to the global issue of "sustainable food," through dialogue with stakeholders with a wide range of knowledge across industries, mainly consumers, to address issues that would be difficult to solve by a single region or company alone. We are pleased to announce that the "T Card Everyone's Ethical Food Lab" (https://ethicalfoodlab.tsite.jp/) has created the "Ethical Food Standards" to help create an ethical food market in Japan.

The environment surrounding us today is faced with a variety of global social issues, including unresolved social development challenges such as poverty, hunger, and education; economic challenges requiring all countries to achieve sustainable economic growth, such as the effective use of energy and resources, improving working styles, and eliminating inequality; and environmental challenges that must be addressed on a global scale, such as the global environment and climate change. These challenges have led to the establishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with 2030 as the target year for achieving them.
Food, in particular, is an important and essential part of our lives. From primary production to final consumption, food is made up of a food chain in which all stakeholders work together to produce, process, distribute, store, and sell food. This is one of the simplest and easiest areas for each individual consumer to understand, and where sustainability can be addressed in daily life. On the other hand, when we turn our attention to sustainable food, we see a variety of issues arising from a lack of ethical consideration, such as a lack of environmental consideration in agricultural and marine production, the yearly increase in energy and water usage and emissions during production and transportation, food waste, excessive packaging, and unfair payment of wages to workers. In these ever-changing times, we believe that if each individual consumer thinks little by little about choosing ethical foods that suit their own lifestyles in their daily meals and shopping, we will eventually be able to move closer to realizing "sustainable food."

CCC Marketing believes that because the various food-related data collected from T Card users is connected to each individual, it may be possible to create a sustainable social impact in the field of food, and that by formulating indicators that encourage consumers to choose better consumption behavior, it may be possible to promote ethical food action in society. Currently, there is no clear definition or standard for ethical food, making it difficult for consumers to know which foods are ethical. Ethical foods are also found in the foods that consumers purchase at their regular stores, and we have created the Ethical Food Standards to inform consumers which foods are ethical.

The newly established "Ethical Food Standards" are one of the standards created to verify whether companies and products are ethically mindful of the environment, animals, people and society, and politics. The Ethical Food Standards are divided into two major categories: Corporate Assessment and Food Assessment. Corporate Assessment is made up of four major categories, 15 medium-term categories, and 65 sub-categories, while Food Assessment is made up of two major categories and eight sub-categories. Additionally, we have set thresholds for the sub-items that we would like to see met by 2022 as standards for presenting ethical food to the public. Thresholds are set for the criteria of 37 sub-items included in the "Corporate Evaluation" and 5 sub-items included in the "Food Evaluation," and products that meet all of these thresholds are considered ethical foods. The thresholds for 2022 were set in consideration of current global and domestic trends, prioritizing environmental and human rights issues that need to be resolved on a global scale. Going forward, we plan to update the thresholds in line with changes in society and people's values.

CCC Marketing hopes that by providing an "Ethical Food Action Score" based on the "Ethical Food Standards," we can work with all stakeholders involved in food, including consumers, manufacturers, and distributors, to help ethical food become more widespread in society. Furthermore, each and every activity of the "T Card Everyone's Ethical Food Lab" will contribute to creating a food cycle that will connect to the future.  

CCC Marketing's group mission is "UNIQUE DATA, SMALL HAPPY." Our major mission is to connect "individual lifestyles" with the "society" that surrounds them, and to create small moments of happiness every day for every person in the world. By refining unique data into valuable information and working together to address various social issues, we aim to create a better, more sustainable society.

[About Ethical Food Standards]
■Date of formulation: Wednesday, March 30, 2022
■Name: T Card Everyone's Ethical Food Lab Ethical Food Standards 2022 (Major Companies Version)

■Development members:
*In alphabetical order
・Office3.11 Inc., Rumi Ide
・One Planet Cafe Co., Ltd. Peo Ekberg
・Keio University Graduate School of Media and Governance, Professor Norichika Kanie
・Specially Appointed Professor, Graduate School of 21st Century Social Design, Rikkyo University ・Mariko Kawaguchi, Fuji Oil Holdings Co., Ltd.
・Hiroko Sasaki, Chefs for the Blue General Incorporated Association
・Crops -Food × ESD Design- Tomoko Suga
・Patagonia Japan Branch, Etsuko Nakanishi
・Takumi Hirai, Honshoku Co., Ltd.
・Professor at the Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University ・Sustainability Editorial Producer Kaori Fujita
・Yukiko Fujita, Kodawariya Co., Ltd.
・CHOMPOO Miki Morie
・Good Tables Co., Ltd. Kenji Yamamoto

-Rob Harrison, President of the Ethical Consumer Research Association

・Shigeki Uekusa, Visiting Researcher at Tokyo University of Agriculture ・Director of the Industry-Government-Academia Collaboration Department at the Graduate School of Project Design
・Future Sessions Inc. Hideyuki Arifuku and Rena Shibaike
・CCC Marketing Co., Ltd. Nozomi Takita, Emiko Nakagishi, Sho Fukai, Chisato Yuasa

*1: Unique data refers to over 70 million single IDs, over 5 billion purchase transactions per year, 6 billion types of product data handled by a network of 200,000 stores, 300 items of customer DNA persona data, offline and online movement and behavior data, media contact data, and CCCMK Group's original enhanced data.

Materials related to this matter

Co-creation platform "T Card Everyone's Ethical Food Lab" announces "What is ethical food?" and "Ethical Food Standards" to create an ethical food market in Japan

Inquiries regarding this matter

CCC Marketing Co., Ltd.
Public Relations Officer: Ando
TEL: 03-6800-4464