Ajinomoto
Encyclopedia
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese food and chemical corporation which produces seasoning
Seasoning
Seasoning is the process of imparting flavor to, or improving the flavor of, food.- General meaning :Seasonings include herbs and spices, which are themselves frequently referred to as "seasonings"...
s, cooking oils, TV dinners, sweeteners, amino acids and pharmaceuticals. In particular it is the world's largest producer of aspartame
Aspartame
Aspartame is an artificial, non-saccharide sweetener used as a sugar substitute in some foods and beverages. In the European Union, it is codified as E951. Aspartame is a methyl ester of the aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide. It was first sold under the brand name NutraSweet; since 2009 it...
, with a 40% global market share.
The literal translation of Aji no Moto is “Essence of Taste,” used as a trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
for the company’s original monosodium glutamate
Monosodium glutamate
Monosodium glutamate, also known as sodium glutamate or MSG, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, one of the most abundant naturally occurring non-essential amino acids....
(MSG) product. Thanks to the company's eminent status, its brand has found its way even to notable Asian language dictionaries as a half-synonym for MSG.
As of Feb 2009, Ajinomoto produces around 33% of the world’s MSG. Its head office is located in Chūō
Chuo, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards that form the heart of Tokyo, Japan. The ward refers to itself as Chūō City in English.Its Japanese name literally means "Central Ward," and it is historically the main commercial center of Tokyo, although Shinjuku has risen to challenge it since the end of World War II...
, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
.
Ajinomoto is active in 100 countries and regions worldwide, employing around 24,861 people as of 2004. Its yearly revenue stands at around US$9 billion.
Monosodium glutamate
Ajinomoto’s signature product, monosodium glutamateMonosodium glutamate
Monosodium glutamate, also known as sodium glutamate or MSG, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, one of the most abundant naturally occurring non-essential amino acids....
(MSG; グルタミン酸ナトリウム) seasoning, was first marketed in Japan in 1909, having been discovered and patented by Kikunae Ikeda
Kikunae Ikeda
was a Japanese chemist and Tokyo Imperial University professor in Chemistry who, in 1908, uncovered the chemical root behind a taste he named umami. He discovered the common component that produced the flavor of meat, seaweed and tomatoes was glutamate, which produces the sensation of umami.He also...
. He found that the most important compound within seaweed broth for common use was actually a glutamate salt, which seemed to give out a unique taste sensation, which he dubbed umami
Umami
Umami , popularly referred to as savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes together with sweet, sour, bitter, and salty.-Etymology:Umami is a loanword from the Japanese meaning "pleasant savory taste". This particular writing was chosen by Professor Kikunae Ikeda from umai "delicious" and mi ...
. As the simplest and safest such salt for human consumption, the popularity of MSG helped the company rapidly expand to other countries, with Ajinomoto U.S.A., Inc. established in 1956.
Before the eventual publicity, the conglomerate was founded on Ikeda's work: it was the first to suggest that industrially purified glutamic acid
Glutamic acid
Glutamic acid is one of the 20 proteinogenic amino acids, and its codons are GAA and GAG. It is a non-essential amino acid. The carboxylate anions and salts of glutamic acid are known as glutamates...
salts, residues or analogues, originally found in seaweed or dried fish-based broth
Dashi
Dashi is a class of soup and cooking stock, considered fundamental to Japanese cooking. In 1980, Shizuo Tsuji wrote: "Many substitutes for dashi are possible, but without dashi, dishes are merely à la japonaise and lack the authentic flavor." Dashi forms the base for miso soup, clear broth, noodle...
, might have a characteristic taste of its own. That idea was rapidly connected to the much older Japanese, culinary term of umami
Umami
Umami , popularly referred to as savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes together with sweet, sour, bitter, and salty.-Etymology:Umami is a loanword from the Japanese meaning "pleasant savory taste". This particular writing was chosen by Professor Kikunae Ikeda from umai "delicious" and mi ...
. This led to early adoption of MSG as a culinary agent in Japan.
Thanks to this, and to the mass production of MSG by Ajinomoto, many of the more wealthy, eastern parts of the People's Republic of China at the time adopted the product into its cuisine as well. The Korean peninsula followed thanks to its cultural closeness. Thus much of East Asia became a staple consumer of glutamate in its various forms at a rather quick pace.
Fuelled by the Japanese post-war economic miracle
Japanese post-war economic miracle
The Japanese post-war economic miracle is the name given to the historical phenomenon of Japan's record period of economic growth following World War II, spurred mainly by Japanese economic policy, in particular through the Ministry of International Trade and Industry...
, the so-called Far East started to feed back into Western culture. Thus came the so called "Miraculous Sixties", and the hard wage competition from the East which continued right into the 1980s. MSG followed the profit gradient of the time, to become a major import into the Western countries, and into the US in particular.
Glutamate wasn't publicly recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
(FDA) until the 1970s, and then had to be cleared as a food additive
Food additive
Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance its taste and appearance.Some additives have been used for centuries; for example, preserving food by pickling , salting, as with bacon, preserving sweets or using sulfur dioxide as in some wines...
which had been in heavy use for some time already. There is a disputed claim that heavy use may lead to allergies. Some amount of health-scare follows the use of glutamates to this day. At the same time, clinical test results shows little evidence for toxicity, while culinary use of glutamates is widespread.
Later study shows that "umami" is indeed a fifth basic taste, but it does not suggest a seaweed flavor as much as it suggests a meat-flavor. Glutamic acid derivatives mainly come from animal, fungal, certain vegetable and bacterial sources. In culinary science it is also now commonly believed that certain plants mimic this fleshy tone by emitting glutamates and inositol
Inositol
Inositol or cyclohexane-1,2,3,4,5,6-hexol is a chemical compound with formula 6126 or 6, a sixfold alcohol of cyclohexane. It exists in nine possible stereoisomers, of which the most prominent form, widely occurring in nature, is cis-1,2,3,5-trans-4,6-cyclohexanehexol, or myo-inositol...
s as an evolutionary adaptation.
Two particular plants would be the onion family, and the tomato. This is because both release ample free glutamates and inositols, and benefit from the dissemination of seeds by some carnivorous species which also like to eat these plant species. It is believed that both derive their culinary value from the free glutamate.
Aspartame
Ajinomoto is the world's largest manufacturer of aspartameAspartame
Aspartame is an artificial, non-saccharide sweetener used as a sugar substitute in some foods and beverages. In the European Union, it is codified as E951. Aspartame is a methyl ester of the aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide. It was first sold under the brand name NutraSweet; since 2009 it...
, sold under the trade name Aminosweet. It acquired its aspartame business in 2000 from Monsanto
Monsanto
The Monsanto Company is a US-based multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation. It is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed in the "Roundup" brand of herbicides, and in other brands...
for $67M.
Glutamine
Ajinomoto is also a leading supplier of the Amino AcidAmino acid
Amino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side-chain that varies between different amino acids. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen...
L-Glutamine
Glutamine
Glutamine is one of the 20 amino acids encoded by the standard genetic code. It is not recognized as an essential amino acid but may become conditionally essential in certain situations, including intensive athletic training or certain gastrointestinal disorders...
.
Controversy
In early 2001, Ajinomoto was involved in a scandal in majority-MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
when it emerged that a pork
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
-based enzyme
Enzyme
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...
had been used in its production of MSG.
Lysine price-fixing conspiracy
Ajinomoto was a member of the Lysine price fixing cartelLysine price-fixing conspiracy
The lysine price-fixing conspiracy was an organized effort during the mid-1990s to raise the price of the animal feed additive lysine. It involved five companies that had commercialized high-tech fermentation technologies, including American company Archer Daniels Midland , Japanese companies...
in the mid-1990s. Along with Kyowa Hakko Kogyo, and Sewon America Inc., Ajinomoto settled with the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
Antitrust Division
United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division
The United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division is responsible for enforcing the antitrust laws of the United States. It shares jurisdiction over civil antitrust cases with the Federal Trade Commission and often works jointly with the FTC to provide regulatory guidance to businesses...
in September 1996. Each firm and one executive from each pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
to aid in further investigation. Their cooperation led to Archer Daniels Midland
Archer Daniels Midland
The Archer Daniels Midland Company is a conglomerate headquartered in Decatur, Illinois. ADM operates more than 270 plants worldwide, where cereal grains and oilseeds are processed into products used in food, beverage, nutraceutical, industrial and animal feed markets worldwide.ADM was named the...
settling charges with the US Government in October 1996 for $100 million, a record antitrust fine at the time. The cartel had been able to raise Lysine prices 70% within their first nine months of cooperation.
Lawsuit against supermarket chain Asda
In 2008, Ajinomoto sued British supermarket chain AsdaAsda
Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...
, part of Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
, for a malicious falsehood action concerning its aspartame product when the chemical was listed as excluded from the chain's product line along with other "nasties". In July 2009, a British court found in favour of Asda. In June 2010, an appeal court reversed the decision, allowing Ajinomoto to pursue a case against Asda to protect aspartame's reputation. At that time, Asda said that it would continue to use the term "no nasties" on its own-label products, however, the suit was settled out of court in 2011 after Asda removed references to aspartame from its packaging.
Trademarks and personnel
AJI-NO-MOTO is registered as a trademark in Indonesia and Thailand.Ajinomoto’s chairman, Kunio Egashira
Kunio Egashira
was the Japanese chairman of Ajinomoto, a Japanese food company which specializes in seasoning and flavorings.Egashira was born in Nagasaki Prefecture and graduated from Hitotsubashi University with a degree in economics....
, died on April 7, 2008. He had been chairman of the company since June 2005. Egashira had previously served as the company's president
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
from June 1997.
Subsidiaries
- Ajinomoto USA, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ajinomoto Co., Inc. Includes Ajinomoto AminoScience LLC that provides amino acidAmino acidAmino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side-chain that varies between different amino acids. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen...
products and services to a number of manufacturing and research industries.
- In the UK, it is produced through Britannia Pharmaceuticals Limited, a UKUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based subsidiary.
- On January 13, 2006, the company bought the cooking sauce and condiments manufacturer Amoy Food LimitedAmoy FoodAmoy Food Limited is a cooking sauce and condiments manufacturer in Hong Kong, China. Its products, which now includes foodstuffs such as frozen foods and instant foods for heating in a microwave oven, are sold around the world...
previously owned by French dairy product company DanoneGroupe DanoneGroupe Danone is a French food-products multinational corporation based in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. It claims world leadership in fresh dairy products, marketed under the corporate name, and also in bottled water...
.
- Ajinomoto Food Ingredients LLC produces AspartameAspartameAspartame is an artificial, non-saccharide sweetener used as a sugar substitute in some foods and beverages. In the European Union, it is codified as E951. Aspartame is a methyl ester of the aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide. It was first sold under the brand name NutraSweet; since 2009 it...
.
- CalpisCalpisis a Japanese uncarbonated soft drink, manufactured by , headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo.The beverage has a light, somewhat milky, and slightly acidic flavor, similar to plain or vanilla-flavored yogurt or Yakult...
- OmniChem NaturalSpecialities is specializing in the tanninTanninA tannin is an astringent, bitter plant polyphenolic compound that binds to and precipitates proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids.The term tannin refers to the use of...
production.
See also
- Ajinomoto Stadium
- CalpisCalpisis a Japanese uncarbonated soft drink, manufactured by , headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo.The beverage has a light, somewhat milky, and slightly acidic flavor, similar to plain or vanilla-flavored yogurt or Yakult...
- Monosodium glutamateMonosodium glutamateMonosodium glutamate, also known as sodium glutamate or MSG, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, one of the most abundant naturally occurring non-essential amino acids....
- Motoko-chan no Wonder KitchenMotoko-chan no Wonder Kitchenis a Super Famicom video game that teaches players how to cook meals in a realistic kitchen. During a promotional period that started on September 1993, the game was considered a promotional item that was given away with Ajinomoto mayonnaise purchases in Japan....
, a mid 1990s Super FamicomSuper Nintendo Entertainment SystemThe Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
video game that advertises the company's then-current products
External links
- Ajinomoto Group - Global
- Ajinomoto - English