About the Ajinomoto Group

To contribute to greater wellness for people worldwide with “AminoScience”—this is the Ajinomoto Group's promise to our customers.

About the Ajinomoto Group

We will contribute to the well-being of all human beings, our society and our planet with “AminoScience” based on the corporate slogan “Eat Well, Live Well.”

Through our products and services, the Ajinomoto Group will continue to help people, taking on new challenges to make every day more comfortable and delicious.

CEO Message

Over 100 years ago, the Ajinomoto Group was founded with the aspiration to help people “Eat Well, Live Well.” Today, we are a solution-providing group of companies for food and health issues, serving over 700 million consumers around the globe.

What is ASV?

ASV stands for Ajinomoto Group Creating Shared Value, which means co-creating social value and economic value through our business. This is the fundamental concept behind our mission to fulfill our Vision and our Purpose.

Eat Well, Live Well.
Eat Well, Live Well.

Our Purpose

The Ajinomoto Group has advanced its purpose from “Unlocking the power of amino acids to resolve the food and health issues” to “contributing to the well-being of all human beings, our society and our planet with ‘AminoScience’.” We consider well-being to mean health and happiness. Our advanced purpose therefore represents our commitment to achieving two outcomes by 2030 which are connected by food systems: to reduce our environmental impact by 50% and to help extend the healthy life expectancy of 1 billion people.

“Health and happiness” for a more prosperous future

Fulfilling the Ajinomoto Group’s corporate slogan of “Eat Well, Live Well.” requires that we work with others to co-create social value and economic value through our business. We believe we can provide health and happiness for all human beings, our society and our planet and create a more prosperous future by repeating a cycle of “honing our co-creation capabilities, realizing well-being from the consumer's perspective, and returning the value we create with our business activities.” To achieve that, our employees each must take a leading role with the driving forces being our employees’ passion for our Purpose and our stakeholders understanding of our mission. It’s essential that we have a corporate culture that is continually working to realize our vision of what we want to be. The Ajinomoto Group will continue its constant pursuit of the co-creation of social value and economic value as we look beyond resolving food and health issues and contribute to the well-being of all human beings, our society and our planet with “AminoScience.”

Our Founding Aspiration
Eat Well, Live Well.

Discovered that the umami component in kombu (kelp) broth is the amino acid glutamic acid

Discoverer of the umami taste
Dr. Kikunae Ikeda
Tokyo Imperial University Professor

Ajinomoto Group founder
Saburosuke Suzuki II

Launched AJI-NO-MOTO®, the world’s first umami seasoning based on glutamic acid

History of the Ajinomoto Group

History of the Ajinomoto Group

The history of the Ajinomoto Group begins with two men, Dr. Kikunae Ikeda, the discoverer of umami, and Sabrosuke Suzuki II, founder of the company born in 1909 from that discovery. The passion they shared more than 110 years ago to help people "Eat Well, Live Well." is the same one that still inspires us today.

History of the Ajinomoto Group

Four Growth Areas for Addressing Social Issues

We will co-create and share value with local communities and consumers through our businesses, for the well-being of the earth, society, and people.

The structure of industry is undergoing monumental changes in a worldwide movement to address global social issues. The Ajinomoto Group has identified megatrends we see influencing our industry through 2030 and beyond and has defined four growth areas where we can best use our businesses to address social issues and fulfill our vision.