Miso みそ

How it appears on labels

Labeling rules

• The Food Labeling Standards (Appended Table 3) define miso as a semi-solid product made by mixing salt with steamed soybeans (or soybeans and grains such as rice or barley) plus grains that were steamed and had koji mold grown on them, or with soybeans that were steamed and had koji mold grown on them, and then fermenting and aging it (including such a product with sugars, flavoring ingredients, and the like added).
• The same Appended Table 3 defines “米みそ” (rice miso) as soybeans with rice koji added, “麦みそ” (barley miso) as soybeans with barley or naked barley koji added, “豆みそ” (soybean miso) as one using bean koji, in which koji mold is grown on the soybeans themselves, and “調合みそ” (blended miso) as everything else, such as mixtures of these. The name of the miso itself is written as one of these four. Miso to which flavoring ingredients such as katsuobushi (dried bonito) have been added in a greater amount than additives used for seasoning is written like “米みそ（だし入り）” (rice miso with dashi) (Appended Table 4).
• Miso is a processed food for which genetically modified (GM) labeling is mandatory (Appended Table 17). However, when it is used as an ingredient in a food not listed in Appended Table 17, such as yakiniku sauce, GM labeling is not required, and if it is written, it must follow the rules (Food Labeling Standards, Article 3). “遺伝子組換えでない” (not genetically modified) may be written only when the ingredient is managed separately and it is recognized that no GM material has mixed in (Article 3).
• For miso, the labeling of products made with additives is prohibited from using the words “純” or “純正” (pure), “天然” or “自然” (natural; except “天然醸造” (natural brewing) for miso that was not sped up by heating and uses no additives), or words showing a brewing period longer than the actual one (Appended Table 22).
• The Japanese Agricultural Standards (JAS) “みそ” (JAS 0022, established in 2022 and revised in 2025) is a standard for how miso is made. It limits the ingredients to grains such as soybeans, rice, and barley, salt, sugars, and flavoring ingredients, and limits the koji mold to Aspergillus oryzae and the koji to “ばらこうじ” (loose koji that keeps the shape of the grains) or “豆こうじ” (bean koji).

Good to know

• Among the products on this site, Nagano's yakiniku sauce (永野の焼肉のたれ) lists “みそ（大豆を含む、大豆：遺伝子組換えでない）” (miso (contains soybeans, soybeans: not genetically modified)) as its 7th ingredient, and also gives the place where the miso was made (Niigata Prefecture).
• When the ingredient list says only “みそ”, the label does not tell you whether it is rice miso, barley miso, or soybean miso.
• In the Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan (8th revised edition, 2023 supplement), light-colored dry rice miso has 12.4 g of salt equivalent per 100 g, and sweet miso has 6.1 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

• Ingredient: Soybeans
• Ingredient: Soy sauce (honjozo, naturally brewed)
• Article: Isomerized sugar and genetic modification
• Products on this site: Miso

Sources

• Food Labeling Standards (Cabinet Office Ordinance No. 10 of 2015) — e-Gov Japanese Law Search
• Japanese Agricultural Standard for miso (JAS 0022:2025) — MAFF
• 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

• Salt
• Sugar and sugars
• Curry powder and spices
• Fish sauce
• Soy sauce
• Vinegar (brewed / rice vinegar)
• Mirin and fermented rice seasoning
• Sake / wine
• Sesame
• Chinese seasonings (doubanjiang, tianmianjiang, douchi)
• Honey