Food Science Japan

2014-01-12

Tohoku Limited Apple Flavored Meiji Apollo Chocolates

In Japan, apples are known as coming from this region. The old term for what roughly corresponds to Tohoku is Michinoku and that is the term used with this product. 明治アポロみちのく陸奥りんご味

Japanese Bread Crust - Huge Waste, But Cheap If You Can Find It

Anyone who buys sandwiches in Japan will have noticed that the crust has been cut off. A huge waste which is also recognized by many Japanese. Found this bag of bread crust on sale for almost nothing, 49 yen, and made some French bread strips. パンの耳

2013-07-27

Photo - Kamakura Vending Machines from 1997

I was going through old photos and found this. I originally took this to show how many vending machines were lined up, but now many years later and upon closer inspection, it is much more interesting. At the time, I was doing basic research and didn't have much of an interest in food products.

Very grainy, but you can see from right to left UCC, Lotte ice cream, Haagen Daz ice cream, Coke, DyDo, Kirin, Suntory, Pocari Sweat (Otsuka Seiyaku), Yakult, Ito-En, Glico (Pocky chocolate sticks), Canada Dry (through Coca Cola in Japan), Asahi, and Fuji Film.

Interesting points:
1) Stevia - The biggest print on the Pocari Sweat machine says Stevia. Very interesting as this is the "new" sweetener just making it to Europe and the US 16 years later.
2) Ice Cream Vending Machines - I bet you would have to do some searching to find two ice cream vending machines side-by-side outside Japan. In this case, there is a little tent over them, but still in the summer the street pictured is blazing hot. It must have taken a lot of energy to keep them running.
3) Fuji Film Vending Machines - You almost never camera film anywhere these days, much less from a vending machine. However, here in Japan you do still occasionally see disposable camera vending machines at tourist attractions where one might want one for an emergency photo.
4) Canada Dry goes through Coca Cola here, but as you can see here, it is often bundled with different offerings from the basic Coca Cola lineup. This is probably because Canada Dry is owned by a competitor in the US, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group.

2012-12-31

Fukushima Rice and Safety Concerns

In response to concerns about the safety of products from Fukushima, many testing procedures have been put in place. This label on Fukushima rice (photo of bag posted earlier today) details the multiple testing which occurs. They describe multiple levels of safety evaluation.
1) both before and after harvesting, government approved testing is carried out,
2) both at the holding facility and at the refining facility, radiation testing is carried out,
and
3) the Fukushima rice association carries out 3 factor radiation detection: when the rice reaches the refinery (on the truck) and sample evaluation both prior to and after processing.
Some of this appears to be overlapping, but they are obviously trying to do everything possible to reassure the consumer.

2012-12-23

Holiday Season

Lots going on over the holidays for me so posting will be when I can make time. Hope to return to more regular posting around January 10th. Hope everyone has a nice holiday season!

2012-12-20

McDonald's Family Box extra

McDonald's is offering a family box for the holiday season. Personally, I think McDonald's looks much better as single servings. Too many fries lined up don't look quite as good. The party set, mostly fries, chicken nuggets and chicken strips is quite a lot of fried food. Not quite sure about these packs, but McDonald's in single servings still holds an undeniable appeal.

http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/campaign/family_box/index.html

Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.

Photo - 7-Eleven One Piece Nandogs

One Piece is the most popular manga in Japan and there is currently a One Piece movie in theaters. These nan bread wrapped sausages have One Piece characters on the package.