FOOD is: a fruit. Examples include confectionary products that combine tomatoes with fresh cream.
Customers of Ginza Cozy Corner Co., Ltd, which operates confectionary and coffee shops and restaurants, can enjoy sweet cream-filled parfaits made from tomatoes.
“[ Ginza Cozy Corner ] are using a special tomato that we developed,” he explained, referring to just one of his firm’ s 7,500 varieties.“ The skin of normal tomatoes is usually composed of three layers, but this variety has only one layer, which makes it a bit like a cherry. The skin doesn’ t stay in your mouth”, he explained.
Nishi said that such sweet offerings are limited to the Japanese market, but like many Japanese firms, Kagome is gearing up to expand its operations in Asia.
The firm’ s first overseas operation was established about 40 years ago in Taiwan to supply to Japan tomatoes as an ingredient. The Kagome Group is now ranked 11th globally in terms of the amount of raw tomatoes used in products.
Asian countries represent a huge potential market. Kagome has two subsidiaries on mainland China, one in Taiwan and Thailand, and another in India.
The average per capita consumption of tomatoes among the Chinese, for example, is about the same as that in Japan: about 10kg per year.
However, there is one big difference. Of all the tomatoes consumed in China, most are eaten raw, such as in salads. In Japan, meanwhile, it’ s about a 50-50 split between the markets for raw and for processed tomatoes.
Nishi believes that consumption of tomatoes in Asian nations can be increased by implementing Kagome’ s know-how in growing and producing tomato-based products to make the most of their harvests.
Considering the growth of the population in India and Asia, this method will contribute to the sustainability of society. In addition, as health and well-being are becoming very important in these countries, Kagome would like people to eat more tomatoes to ensure a healthy lifestyle.
At home, Kagome is proud of its various technological achievements, one of which is their reverse osmosis. The key technology was patented by Kagome.
“ Normally, you need high temperatures but with this technology, we use high pressure with only pure water”, explained Kunihiko Sato, managing executive officer of the firm’ s research and development division.
Former Manchester United player Andrew Cole visited Tohoku as part of Kagome’ s Regeneration Challenge project.
The result is tomato juice with a“ raw, fresh flavour”, Sato said.“ In addition, the colour comes out nice and bright. So although the juice is made from a concentrate, it’ s just like fresh tomato juice”.
Such innovations are underpinned by the roughly 200 researchers employed by Kagome. The firm, which has some 800 products, each year introduces about 90 new ones. The total number of staff at the Nagoya-based firm and its subsidiaries is around 2,200. Last fiscal year, the corporate group posted net sales of ¥ 180bn; this year, it expects the figure to rise to ¥ 196bn.
One of the firm’ s goals is to get more Japanese people to consume tomatoes. And why not? It’ s a healthy fruit, packed with vitamins and other nutrients. What’ s more, a growing body of research shows that increasing our consumption of tomatoes removes active oxygen in our bodies, helping to prevent serious illnesses.
Kagome believes that promoting the consumption of tomatoes in Japan is tantamount to contributing to the country’ s well-being and longevity.
Tomatoes may not have been a feature of traditional Japanese cuisine, but the firm sees them as being an important part of its future.
“ Kagome is trying to introduce different ways of eating tomatoes— not just as juice and tomato sauce— by combining them with Japanese food”, Sato explained.
One idea is to combine tomatoes with miso soup. This might not sound like a usual combination to purists, but then again, if tomato parfaits enjoy good sales, then it seems the sky could well be the limit.
Kagome and Manchester United’ s soccer schools aim to give support to children of the Tohoku region.
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