Ajinomoto Co., Inc. is a Japanese food and chemical corporation which produces
seasonings, cooking oils, TV dinners, sweeteners, amino acids, and
pharmaceuticals. In particular it is the world's largest producer of aspartame,
with a 40% global market share. The literal translation of Aji no Moto
is “Essence of Taste,” used as a trademark for the company’s original
monosodium glutamate product. Its head office is located in Chūō,
Tokyo. Ajinomoto operates in 26 countries,
employing around 27,518 people as of 2013. Its yearly revenue in the fiscal
year of 2013 stands at around US$12 billion.
Products = Monosodium glutamate =
Ajinomoto’s main product, monosodium glutamate seasoning, was first marketed
in Japan in 1909, having been discovered and patented by Kikunae Ikeda. He found
that the most important compound within seaweed broth for common use was
actually a glutamate salt, which he identified with the taste umami, a word
meaning 'pleasant taste' or 'savoriness'. As the simplest 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
salts, residues or analogues, originally found in seaweed or dried fish-based
broth, might have a characteristic taste of its own. That idea was rapidly
connected to the much older Japanese, culinary term of umami. This led to
early adoption of MSG as a culinary agent in Japan.
= Aspartame = Ajinomoto is the world's largest
manufacturer of aspartame, sold under the trade name Aminosweet. It acquired
its aspartame business in 2000 from Monsanto for US$67 million.
= Glutamine = Ajinomoto supplies the amino acid
L-Glutamine. History
= Lysine price-fixing = Ajinomoto was a member of the Lysine
price fixing cartel in the mid-1990s. Along with Kyowa Hakko Kogyo, and Sewon
America Inc., Ajinomoto settled with the United States Department of Justice
Antitrust Division in September 1996. Each firm and one executive from each
pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain to aid in further investigation. Their
cooperation led to Archer Daniels Midland 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 six
months of cooperation. = 2000 to 2008 =
By mid-2000, Ajinomoto's acquisition of NutraSweet and 'Euro-Aspartame' from
Monsanto had been completed. In early 2001, Ajinomoto was involved in
a scandal in majority-Muslim Indonesia when it emerged that a pork-based enzyme
had been used in its production of MSG. In January 2006, the company bought the
cooking sauce and condiments manufacturer Amoy Food from the French
dairy product company Groupe Danone, which had run the division as the "Amoy
Asian food unit". At the time of the acquisition, Ajinomoto was the largest
Japanese maker of seasonings. = Lawsuits against Asda =
In 2008, Ajinomoto sued British supermarket chain Asda, part of
Wal-Mart, 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.
= 2010 to present = In late 2012, the Company sold its
Calpis beverage unit to Asahi Breweries for US$1.5 billion.
In 2013, the Company acquired the contract manufacturing organization
Althea Technologies for US$175 million in a bid to expand biopharmaceutical
manufacturing in the United States. Corporate governance
As of April 2013, the president and CEO of Ajinomoto Group was Masatoshi Ito.
Ajinomoto’s chairman since June 2005, Kunio Egashira, died on April 7, 2008.
Egashira had previously served as the company's president from June 1997.
Organization According to the Global Corporate
website, there are three major types of subsidiaries based on the products they
produce: Seasonings and Processed Foods, Frozen Foods and Amino Acids; the number
of subsidiaries in each category number 27, 9 and 12, respectively, and most are
geographically defined entities. = North America =
Ajinomoto North America, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ajinomoto Co.
It is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina and covers operations in the
United States, Mexico and Canada. According to the company, it is the
"only pharmaceutical L-amino acid manufacturer in the United States."
= Chemicals units = Ajinomoto has three divisions devoted to
chemical manufacture outside of the amino acid manufacturing area:
NaturalSpecialities and Tensiofix are subunits of Omnichem, which is
headquartered in Belgium. See also
Ajinomoto Stadium Calpis
Monosodium glutamate Aspartame
Aspartame controversy Motoko-chan no Wonder Kitchen, a
mid-1990s Super Famicom video game that advertises the company's then-current
products References
External links Ajinomoto Group - Global
Ajinomoto - English