Ajinomoto Company Inc
Ajinomoto is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of low calorie sweeteners made from amino acids, AminoSweet aspartame and Advantame. Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, neotame, acesulfame potassium, etc. might contain fewer calories, but they increase the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and metabolic syndrome.
European Subsidiaries
- Ajinomoto Foods Egypt SAE
- Ajinomoto Afrique de L'Ouest SA, Côte d'Ivoire
- Ajinomoto Istanbul Food Industry and Trade Ltd Co., Turkey
Portal Website for Europe, Africa and Middle East
- § Ajinomoto Foods Europe SAS, France
- § Ajinomoto Animal Nutrition Group Inc, France
- Ajinomoto Europe SAS
- Labeyrie Traiteur Surgeles SAS
- § SA Ajinomoto Omnichem NV, Belgium
- Agro2Agri SL, Spain
- Ajinomoto Poland SP Zoo, Poland
- Ajinomoto JAWO Sp. Zoo
- Zao Ajinomoto-Genetika Research Institute, Russia
- OooAjinomoto
- West African Seasoning Company Ltd, Nigeria
- Promasidor Holdings Ltd, British Virgin Islands (33% stake acq'd in 2016)
Ajinomoto Foods Europe SAS
Ready-Made Food Products
Food Ingredients & Seasonings
- Enzyme Preparations: ACTIVA products increase firmness and texture, and improves slicing yields.
- Transglutaminase is an enzyme (protein), produced by a fermentation process. Commonly used as a texture-improver, as well as a binder for "gluing" meat and fish parts into one chunk. All ACTIVA products contain it. ref
- Sweeteners (see also SourceWatch article and Sweet Misery video):
- AminoSweet Aspartame is a low-calorie sweetener, made from amino acids rather than carbohudrates. See Ajinomoto's FAQ, Webpage
- Advantame is a derivative of aspartame. It partially replaces calorific sweeteners, enhances flavour, and masks "off" tastes. Reviewed by the European Food Safety Authority. Some info from Sugar and Sweetener Guide on its pros and cons. About, Website
- Savoury Seasonings:
Ajinomoto Animal Nutrition Group Inc
"In order to produce cheap meat, animals must be kept intensively farmed, because allowing them free range costs more land, time and labour. Without access to their natural foods, they must be fed substitutes such as soybean meal, corn, etc; but these substitutes lack essential nutritional elements. A feed additive solves the problem;ref but their digestive systems suffer, so another additive is required. ref To fatten the animal faster, yet another additive is added.ref It is cheaper to produce feed with low protein levels, which also means less excrement, so yet another additive is given." ref, ref
Ajinomoto Animal Nutrition Group was formerly known as Ajinomoto Eurolysine SAS.[1]
SA Ajinomoto Omnichem NV
Cosmetic ingredients and Specialty Chemicals. Six divisions ref:
- Bio-Pharma Services: Ajinomoto Althea and OmniChem have united to form Ajinomoto Bio-Pharma Services ref.
- OmniChem: Omnichem.com
- Althea Inc: Contract development and manufacturing organization providing clinical drug process development and manufacturing services to global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Ajinomoto acquired Althea to expand the business for biopharmaceuticals manufacturing in the US market. Located in California. ref Altheacmo.com
- Granules OmniChem:, a 50:50 joint venture between Granules India Ltd and OmniChem. ref Webpage
- Tensiofix: A brand of surfactants (emulsifiers, wetting-dispersing agents, etc.) used for pesticides ref Tensiofix.com
- Natural Specialities: Specialises in the extraction and purification of tannic acid, grape seed extract, plus custom extraction. ref, ref Natural-Specialities.com
- Amino Acid Department: Provides amino acids for pharmaceutical, food and costmetics applications, which conform to EU regulations. Webpage
- Personal Care: Supplies speciality chemicals to the European market. ref Webpage
Timeline
- Mar.2000: Nutrasweet: Monsanto Company exited its consumer and bulk food ingredients business, and sold its equity stake in its European joint venture companies, NutraSweet AG (a supplier to Merisant Company) and Euro-Aspartame SA, to its long-standing JV partner, Ajinomoto Company Inc.ref,ref The companies were renamed to "Ajinomoto Switzerland AG", and "Ajinomoto Euro-Aspartame SA". Ainomoto rebranded aspartame and the Japanese “Pal Sweet Diet” as “AminoSweet“, and replicated the 1982 American marketing campaign claiming that aspartame was all natural.ref
References
- ^ Name change. On Oct.31, Ajinomoto Eurolysine SAS will change its name to Ajinomoto Animal Nutrition Europe. Ajinomoto Animal Nutrition Europe, Oct.31.2018.