Consumer Perspectives

While technology-induced change in food is not new, the rise of functional foods adds a new dimension that could initiate changes in the practices of consumers. The influx of new ideas reflecting conventions of the Industrial order of worth requires consumers to reconfigure their understanding of

The Use of Health Foods in Japan 199 health-promoting foods and their uses.

Regardless of health incidents that arise from the misuse and overuse of healthy foods, the presence of health-promoting foods in the Japanese market is strong.^[733] It is interesting to note that, in contrast to the situation with geneti­cally modified foods, which have a very limited market presence, and which have faced intense opposition in Japanese society, conflicts over functional foods have been less intense; in general, their use is socially accepted, and fewer concerns are expressed. One reason is that consumers perceive functional foods as foods, first and foremost, and thus treat them as foods (unless and until there is a specific health scare involving some food, such as the BSE outbreak). In this sense, health-promoting foods are likely to be evaluated by consumers within the Domestic order of worth.

of the Domestic order of worth, in which hierarchical relationships determine a duty of care on the part of the powerful (in this case, both government and industry) towards the less powerful.

Some consumer advocacy groups are aware of the ways in which consumers are misled by interests within the Market and Industrial orders of worth. For instance, at a public forum,^[736] a consumer participant said:

What confuses many of us consumers is that the fliers from the drug stores frequently advertise information on drugs and health foods in the same section. For example, it says “for helping to build a health body” or “for a party season”, then puts drugs and health foods in the same section. Even at the drug stores, drugs and health foods are sold on the same shelf. We cannot help but think that health foods are similar to over-the-counter drugs.

Another attendee said:

The name “health food” is misleading because it raises our expectation of having a positive health effect. Ads at the stores are not helpful either because they only emphasize the effects, not the risks.

There are plenty of misleading or extravagant advertisements that empha­size the health effects of health foods, raising high expectations by consumers that these foods will enable them to be proactive in making healthy choices and protecting their health, but consumers do not realize the irony that all the innovations taking place may actually be taking away some of the control of their life by introducing new, unexpected risk factors. In other words, because of the ways in which health foods are presented to them in the marketplace, consumers are misled and misinterpret what it means to buy and use the health foods available at the stores.

VI.