Beverage Industry's 'Social Issues Response Council' Announces Initiative on Relaxing Delivery Expiry Date Rules (Allowing Manufacturing Lot Reversal) Toward a Sustainable Society

Asahi Beverages Co., Ltd., Ito En, Ltd., Kirin Beverage Co., Ltd., Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Group Co., Ltd., and Suntory Beverage & Food Limited—five leading Japanese beverage manufacturers—have been actively discussing social issues such as the 2024 logistics crisis and food waste through the 'Social Issues Response Council,' established in November 2024.

In November 2025, the council announced five key themes, including the 'relaxation of delivery expiry date rules (allowing manufacturing lot reversal),' and is now advancing concrete initiatives.

※1 Manufacturing lot refers to products with the same expiry date.

Following the council's announcement, Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd. (operator of Seven-Eleven Japan) has agreed to support the initiative and will begin implementing it for beverage products starting this week. Additionally, Summit Co., Ltd. has also expressed support and plans to launch pilot experiments in select stores from late July, covering certain products.

This initiative aims to address logistics inefficiencies and food waste caused by traditional supply chain practices across manufacturing (sei), distribution (ha), and retail (han)—collectively known as 'sei-ha-han'.

Moving forward, the council will expand collaboration with other retailers who support this initiative, further promoting efforts toward a sustainable society.

※2 'Sei-ha-han' refers to the supply chain structure: manufacturing (sei), wholesale/distribution (ha), and retail (han).

【Background of the Initiative】

In current sei-ha-han transactions, daily transportation is conducted to align manufacturing lots and prevent lot reversal. However, when such transportation fails, products are often discarded before reaching store shelves, resulting in food waste. With the anticipated worsening of the 2024 logistics crisis due to a shortage of truck drivers, delivery operations are expected to face increasing challenges. For products with long shelf lives, such as bottled beverages, relaxing delivery rules could significantly reduce both logistics burdens and food waste across the entire supply chain.

A 2025 consumer awareness survey conducted by the council※3 revealed that while approximately 60–80% of consumers pay attention to expiry dates for perishable goods like fresh meat and milk, only about 10–20% do so for processed foods. Notably, bottled beverages received similar responses to ice cream—a product not legally required to display expiry dates. Furthermore, nearly 90% of respondents indicated they would still purchase a product even if a one-month expiry date reversal was observed at retail. This suggests minimal impact on consumer purchasing behavior.

※3 'Expiry Date Awareness Survey 2025'

【Specific Initiative Details】

In collaboration with supportive retailers, the council will proceed with the following measures to reduce logistics burdens and food waste:

- Implement a new operational framework that allows limited manufacturing lot reversal within existing delivery deadlines - Establish systems that maintain current retailer delivery and sales deadlines - Eliminate additional transportation previously required to align manufacturing lots

The council continues to engage in discussions and exchanges with government agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, as well as cross-industry logistics research groups, to collaboratively address complex social challenges that cannot be solved by individual companies alone.

Going forward, the five member companies will continue their joint research and dialogue on social issues, fulfilling their corporate responsibilities while advancing business activities that contribute to a sustainable society.