Amino science

The world’s leading producer of amino acids

The Ajinomoto Group commands a dominant share of the global amino acids market in food, feed, pharmaceutical, and other segments.

Our advanced production technology and capacity to ensure stable supply of amino acid-based products is the core of our competitive strength.

The Ajinomoto Group produces nearly 20 amino acids at 27 locations around the world. Our global production system comprises a network of strategically-located plants, reliable supplies of optimum materials and microbes, and state-of-the-art processes.

Production fermentation technology

Many fermentation products, including MSG and other amino and nucleic acids, are made using materials derived from agricultural crops. The Ajinomoto Group is extending and refining its best-of-breed biotechnologies, including technology that makes full use of environmentally friendly raw materials; technology that supports discovery and application of microbes to convert raw materials into amino and nucleic acids as efficiently as possible; fermentation technology to maximize the capabilities of microbes; and distillation technology to optimize the recycling of byproducts while ensuring the purity of the end products.

Research into basic technologies

The Group employs advanced molecular and systems biology, and performs comprehensive analysis of the biological interactions, metabolic pathways, and other characteristics to produce amino acids and related products from a wide range of materials. Our goal is to optimize the total fermentation production system. At the same time, the Group continues to conduct research into foundational technologies and identify new microbes and enzymes that can be used in our processes. Other teams are investigating new materials for the next generation of fermentation technologies.

Process development

The production of amino acids should work in concert with agricultural practices and conditions specific to each part of the world, whether the source material is sugar cane, corn, cassava tubers, or other crops. To this end, we have developed methods designed to maximize the efficiency of our fermentation processes. We can respond flexibly to changes in the agricultural environment stemming from economic growth in developing countries, rising biofuel usage, trends in grain prices, and other factors. A range of diverse materials can be rapidly processed and utilized because of the highly advanced technologies at our command. R&D also maintains the forward pace, pursuing methodologies needed for the next generation of amino acid production from non-edible biomass such as microalgae.


Resource-Saving fermentation technologies

As a global manufacturer, the Ajinomoto Group has a social responsibility to reduce the environmental footprint of its operations. Accordingly, we have made the following commitments:

  1. To significantly reduce the consumption of raw materials by maximizing fermentation productivity of microbes.

  2. To raise the overall efficiency of fermentation processes to reduce the amount of energy and auxiliary materials (e.g., acids, alkalis) consumed, and water discharged, during the course of production.

  3. To process selected materials for fermentation in-house, such as extractions from sugar cane and tapioca, and to recycle gas fuels generated by biomass byproducts during processing.


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