Ajinomoto

The essence of taste

Institutional video

Origin

In 1908, Dr. Kikunae Ikeda, a researcher and professor at Tokyo Imperial University, discovered from experiments on seaweed a fifth taste - inaddition to the four already known (sweet, salty, sour and bitter) -and called it of Umami, which in Japanese means "tasty".

With the advancement of studies and research, it was discovered that glutamate, the main substance responsible for providing the fifth taste, can also be processed from other natural sources, such assugarcane by fermentation process, resulting in monosodium glutamate.

Ajinomoto Foundation

In 1909 the Ajinomoto Company was born, whose name of Japanese origin,means "essence of the flavor". The company is a worldleader in the production of amino acids and its headquarters is located in Tokyo, Japan.

The Ajinomoto Group operates in 35 countries with around 34.000 employees in wordwide.

Ajinomoto in Brazil

In Brazil since 1956, Ajinomoto is committed to offer high quality products to the consumers and the food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, animal nutrition and agribusiness industries.

With four industrial units and an administrative headquarter, Ajinomoto do Brasil employs approximately 3,000 people and attend the domestic and foreign markets.

Ajinomoto Food Ingredients

To be recognized as an essential company in Latin America and South Africa:
VISION:
‍To be a reliable company and strategic partner of customers, by providing innovative solutions for taste and texture, based on unique technology and ingredients.
MISSION:
‍To contribute to wellness, deliciousness and sustainable food from LA, through total solution for food industries and consumers.

Sustainability

One of the basic principles of Ajinomoto is respect for the environment.Therefore, Ajinomoto's plants in Brazil have the "BioIntegration System", which transforms by-products into fertilizers for sugarcane plantations and other crops. Thus, the total utilization of the raw material and the minimization of residues to the environment takes place.

Support to knowledge

In addition to the actions already promoted by the Ajinomoto Institute, the Food Ingredients Division is also active in contributing to improving society. We support academic research at universities all over Brazil, offering workshops on our solutions and donating samples of our ingredients to carry out the projects.

Our
philosophy

Eat Well,
Live Well.

ASV

A company needs to make a profit. This is a principle. But to be sustainable, a company besides to generate profit has to be useful and add value to society. This is a principle of the ASV - Ajinomoto Shared Value - which translates into Ajinomoto Group Shared Value Creation, a philosophy disseminated in Japan that spreads throughoutthe Group's subsidiaries around the world.

Ajinomoto's employees work focused on creating new values, with a pioneer spirit, respecting others and contributing to society, practicing ASV .Ajinomoto's own production process represents the company's way of being, once the raw material comes from sugarcane and the waste from production comes back to nature in the form of fertilizers.