Buckwheat flour (soba-ko) そば粉

How it appears on labels

Labeling rules

• Buckwheat is an allergen that must be labeled (a “特定原材料”). Materials from medical institutions explain that buckwheat allergy tends to cause severe symptoms (anaphylaxis) even from a very small amount.
• For dried soba (“干しそば”, dried noodles), when buckwheat flour is under 30% of the blend, the share must be written, as in “2割” (20%) or “20%” (under 10% is written as “1割未満”, less than 10%, and so on; Food Labeling Standards, Appended Table 19). At 30% or more, the share does not have to be written. If the share is written near the product name in letters of 14 points or larger, it can be left out of the main labeling box.
• Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight, so if “小麦粉” (wheat flour) is written before “そば粉” (buckwheat flour), there is thought to be less buckwheat flour than wheat flour (under 50%).
• For fresh and boiled noodles, the industry's Fair Competition Code for labeling of fresh noodles (“生めん類の表示に関する公正競争規約”) treats products with 30% or more buckwheat flour (70% or less wheat flour) as “そば” (soba). The Japanese Agricultural Standard (JAS) for dried noodles sets buckwheat flour at 40% or more for the standard grade and 50% or more for the upper grade (each maker chooses whether to carry the JAS mark).

Good to know

• Among the products on this site, Yamamoto Kajino's “元祖十割そば” (Ganso Juwari Soba) lists only “そば粉” (buckwheat flour) as its ingredient. Hakubaku's “木曽路御岳そば” (Kisoji Ontake Soba) lists wheat flour first.
• In “そば粉（国内製造）” (buckwheat flour (made in Japan)), “国内製造” means the flour was milled in Japan, not where the buckwheat was grown (country-of-origin labeling of ingredients, Food Labeling Standards Article 3).
• In the food composition table, buckwheat flour (whole-layer flour, “全層粉”) has 12.0 g of protein, 69.6 g of carbohydrate, and 4.3 g of dietary fiber per 100 g.

Food composition data

Per 100 g of the edible portion. Source: MEXT, Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan (8th revised edition, 2023 supplement).

Products on this site that contain it

Product pages are in Japanese for now; each one reads every ingredient on the label.

Related pages

• Article: Ingredients of 8 store-bought soba products and labeling of the buckwheat flour share
• Ingredient: Wheat flour / wheat

Frequently asked questions

What does そば粉 (Buckwheat flour (soba-ko)) mean on a Japanese food label?

Buckwheat flour is buckwheat (蕎麦, soba) seeds ground into flour. Most soba noodles are made by mixing buckwheat flour with a binder such as wheat flour. Noodles made only from buckwheat flour are called “十割そば” (juwari soba, 100% buckwheat).

How is Buckwheat flour (soba-ko) written in Japanese on ingredient labels?

On Japanese food and product labels (原材料名), Buckwheat flour (soba-ko) is written as "そば粉", "そば粉（国内製造）", "そば粉(国内製造)", "そば粉（そば（国産））".

What are Japan's labeling rules for Buckwheat flour (soba-ko) (そば粉)?

Buckwheat is an allergen that must be labeled (a “特定原材料”). Materials from medical institutions explain that buckwheat allergy tends to cause severe symptoms (anaphylaxis) even from a very small amount. For dried soba (“干しそば”, dried noodles), when buckwheat flour is under 30% of the blend, the share must be written, as in “2割” (20%) or “20%” (under 10% is written as “1割未満”, less than 10%, and so on; Food Labeling Standards, Appended Table 19). At 30% or more, the share does not have to be written. If the share is written near the product name in letters of 14 points or larger, it can be left out of the main labeling box. Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight, so if “小麦粉” (wheat flour) is written before “そば粉” (buckwheat flour), there is thought to be less buckwheat flour than wheat flour (under 50%). For fresh and boiled noodles, the industry's Fair Competition Code for labeling of fresh noodles (“生めん類の表示に関する公正競争規約”) treats products with 30% or more buckwheat flour (70% or less wheat flour) as “そば” (soba). The Japanese Agricultural Standard (JAS) for dried noodles sets buckwheat flour at 40% or more for the standard grade and 50% or more for the upper grade (each maker chooses whether to carry the JAS mark).

Sources

• Food Labeling Standards (Cabinet Office Ordinance No. 10 of 2015) — e-Gov Japanese Law Search
• Consumer Trouble Explanations (labeling of the buckwheat flour share in dried soba) — National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan
• Types of fresh noodles (Fair Competition Code for fresh noodle labeling) — All-Japan Noodle Manufacturers Cooperative Association
• Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan (8th revised edition, 2023 supplement) — MEXT

Sources are in Japanese unless noted otherwise. This page is a translation of our Japanese page; if they differ, the Japanese page is the reference.

Other ingredients in this group

• Wheat flour / wheat
• Soybeans
• 大豆の加工品（大豆たんぱく・豆乳・おから・豆腐・油揚げ・きな粉）
• Rice flour / chickpea flour
• Starch
• 落花生（ピーナッツ）
• Rice
• こうじ（米こうじ・麹菌）
• 豆類（ひよこ豆・えんどう・いんげん豆・小豆）・あん
• 大麦（六条大麦など）
• オーツ麦（えん麦）
• ライ麦
• パン酵母（イースト）・パン種・酵母粉末
• チアシード
• 水溶性食物繊維（原材料名）・イヌリン
• ナッツ・種（アーモンド・カシューナッツ・くるみ・ヘーゼルナッツ・かぼちゃの種・栗）
• 雑穀（はとむぎ・とうもろこし・きびなど）
• 納豆菌
• 乳酸菌