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Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility

Achievement by 2020: 1) Food

Ajinomoto is determined to clearly convey the importance of enjoying the great taste of food that is good for the body as well as the mind.

Educating the World about Umami

Spreading knowledge of umami to people around the world

Since 2005, Ajinomoto Co., Inc. has been making local umami stories based on regional culinary culture while promoting activities to spread knowledge of umami worldwide. Through these efforts, local people gain a better understanding of umami and a stronger awareness that it is naturally contained in familiar foods. Through a wide range of activities ranging from symposiums to school lectures, opportunities for media coverage have increased in various countries leading to heightened interest in umami on a global scale.
It has been 100 years since Dr. Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo) discovered umami while pursuing research driven by his strong motivation to “contribute to nutritional improvement by making nutritious but simple food taste good.” In the Philippines, a comic has taught children about umami, and in Vietnam, PR staff have staged theater performances on the subject. Umami is now being introduced around the world through a documentary film entitled Ambition—The Story of Kikunae Ikeda, Chemist. The film received the 2009 intermedia—globe Grand Award in the Education category at the 2009 World Media Festival held in Germany.
The company has been undertaking research at its Institute of Life Sciences on the uses of glutamate in a variety of areas such as health maintenance, quality of life enhancement, and nutritional improvement. The Ajinomoto Group will continue to work towards spreading new information on the nutritional and physiological functions of glutamate.

   

AJINOMOTO PHILIPPINES CORPORATION promotes umami activities at supermarkets.

  

At Ajinomoto Vietnam Co., Ltd., umami is introduced using tomatoes in a theatrical production.

  

Ajinomoto Internamericana Indústria e Comércio Ltda. uses an umami tasting kit at an employee study meeting.

Learning the secrets of great taste the School Tour of Education on Eating

The School Tour of Education on Eating is a food education program taught by employees of Ajinomoto Co., Inc., to elementary and middle school students. The program lets children have fun while learning about the secrets of taste that go into making delicious meals. There is absolutely no advertising of products during the classes. The School Tour of Education on Eating, which started in fiscal 2007, aims to increase children's interest in food and nurtures the realization that food is fun.
In a 45-minute class, students get to touch kelp and dried bonito and taste dashi. This style of hands-on learning, in particular, really brings the children to life; often, their exclamations of delight can be heard filling the classroom. Many of the written descriptions by the children of the impressions they felt during the class suggest that this program really enables learning while having fun. The classes are also an important opportunity for the employees who become instructors to make use of the knowledge and experience they have gained in their work and to heighten their awareness of how important food education is. The School Tour of Education on Eating will continue to enthusiastically encourage children to value great taste.

The School Tour of Education on Eating in fiscal 2008

Number of schools: 106
Number of instructors: 75 (from a total of 193 available instructors)

1 Overview of great taste

 
 

Teaching material for third and fourth graders

Instructors introduce the primary factors behind great taste. Students learn that umami is one of the five basic tastes and are also taught about the mechanism of experiencing taste.

2 What is umami?

 
 

Explanatory material used in class

Students learn that the components that make up umami are included in familiar foods, and about the history of umami's discovery by Japanese scientists and the dietary culture of which Japan can be proud.

3 Experiencing umami

Students learn about umami by experiencing the color, aroma, and taste of Japanese traditional dashi, or seaweed kombu stock and bonito stock. They also get to touch these real raw materials.

   

Tasting and comparing kombu stock and bonito stock.

  

The children tried shaving the dried bonito themselves.

  

The children were surprised at the size of kombu.

Comments from the questionnaire given after the class

  • “I learned about the taste called umami.”
  • “I learned that foods contain umami.”
  • “I am proud that a Japanese person discovered umami.”
  • “I saw kelp and dried bonito for the first time.”
  • “It was fun getting to drink dashi.”
  

Comments

Masanori Haruta

Masanori Haruta

Deputy General Manager, Kyushu Branch, Ajinomoto Co., Inc.


Before holding the class I was a little concerned about how well I could communicate with the students and teachers. But once we got started, there was no need to worry and it was all over before I knew it. After the class, I felt satisfied at having been able to communicate accurate information about food to the children, and I developed a taste for the joy of contributing to society. I would like to see all employees participate in this program.

  
Yukari Fukuoka

Yukari Fukuoka

Planning Group, Bio-Industrialization Center, Ajinomoto Co., Inc.


I participated in the School Tour of Education on Eating because I wanted to communicate proper knowledge about umami to society through children and schools. The Tour provided me with an excellent opportunity to organize my thoughts on the subject. The teacher of the class I was in charge of also gave me some very useful advice about teaching children.

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