Consumer cooperatives and companies delivering food door-to-door face rough going amid prolonged lackluster consumption and fierce distribution competition.
Trying to ride out the tough times, they are introducing free delivery services for small-lot food parcels. They are also reviewing their own organic farming methods and inspection criteria to cope with stricter standards that debut this month for organically grown agricultural products.
"The government is making a fuss now in this era of deflation, but we really felt it about two years ago," said Yoneo Fukazawa, chief of the agricultural product department of Co-op Tokyo.