Ajinomoto
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Native name
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味の素株式会社 |
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Romanized name
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Ajinomoto Kabushiki-gaisha |
| Public (K.K.) | |
| Traded as | : MYX: |
| Industry | Food industry |
| Founded | 1917 (as S. Suzuki & Co. Ltd.) |
| Headquarters | Chūō, Tokyo, Japan |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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Masatoshi Ito (President & Chief Executive Officer) |
| Products | seasonings, cooking oils, TV dinners, sweeteners, amino acids and pharmaceuticals |
| Revenue |
 ¥1,172 billion (FY 2013) |
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¥71 billion (FY 2013) |
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 ¥48 billion (FY 2013) |
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| Total assets |
¥1,091 billion (FY 2013) |
| Total equity |
¥691 billion (FY 2013) |
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Number of employees
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27,518 (2013) |
| Website | Ajinomoto Group |
Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (味の素株式会社 Ajinomoto Kabushiki-gaisha?) is a Japanese food and chemical corporation which produces seasonings, cooking oils, TV dinners, sweeteners, amino acids, and pharmaceuticals. In particular it is the world's largest producer of aspartame, with a 40% global market share.
AJI-NO-MOTO (, "essence of taste") is the trade name for the company’s original monosodium glutamate (MSG) product.
The company's head office is located in Chūō, Tokyo.
Ajinomoto operates in 26 countries, employing around 27,518 people as of 2013. Its yearly revenue in the fiscal year of 2013 stands at around US$12 billion.
Ajinomoto main product, monosodium glutamate (MSG) seasoning, was first marketed in Japan in 1909, having been discovered and patented by Kikunae Ikeda. He found that the most important compound within seaweed broth for common use was actually a glutamate salt, which he identified with the taste umami, a word meaning 'pleasant taste' or 'savoriness'. As the simplest such salt for human consumption, the popularity of MSG helped the company rapidly expand to other countries, with Ajinomoto U.S.A., Inc. established in 1956.
Before the eventual publicity, the conglomerate was founded on Ikeda's work: it was the first to suggest that industrially purified glutamic acid salts, residues or analogues, originally found in seaweed or dried fish-based broth, might have a characteristic taste of its own. That idea was rapidly connected to the much older Japanese, culinary term of umami. This led to early adoption of MSG as a culinary agent in Japan.
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Wikipedia