Kyowa to Build $50 Million Seasoning Plant in Missouri

September 14, 1998

Source: Chemical Market Reporter

Construction will begin shortly on a $50 million plant in Girardeau, MO., to manufacture nucleotide seasonings for the newly formed company Kyowa Foods, Inc. The groundbreaking is expected to take place in November. The plant will have a capacity of 2,000 metric tons and employ 50 to 60 people.

Nucleotides are already being produced in Japan by Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Company, Ltd., which has exported them globally for the past 10 years. The output of the new plant will double Kyowa's capacity and position it for the expected growth in the seasoning's demand.

"Here in the U.S., demand is growing close to 10 percent per year," says Kohei Yamamoto, marketing director for Kyowa Hakko USA Inc. "Many food processors and food companies are just starting to recognize this new material and are beginning to put the ingredient in their recipes."

First developed by Kyowa and other fermentation companies more than 20 years ago, nucleotide seasonings were almost exclusively sold in Japan. Over the past 10 years, as Kyowa began exporting the product. "Food companies started to find out the effectiveness of this new material," Mr. Yamamoto says.

Nucleotide is a flavor enhancer that provides five basic tastes: sweet, bitter, sour, salty and umami, which consists of naturally occuring glutamic acids and nucleotides found in bonito, seaweed and shitake mushrooms. The most commonly known nucletides are IMP (disodium 5'-inosinate), GMP (disodium 5'-guanylate) and WMP, which is a mixture of IMP and GMP.

Mr. Yamamoto adds that when used in conjunction with MSG, nucleotides have a synergistic effect, creating a more powerful effect than either of the two seperatly.

The company expects to complete the new plant in the summer of 2000. It will be about 32,000 square feet, including processing space and warehouse facilities. The new plant is being built beside the company's Biokyowa site, a manufacturer of agro-chemicals. The Biokyowa plant uses Kyowa Hakko's fermentation technology to produce the L-lysine food additive for poultry and swine. Biokyowa recently observed its 15th anniversary in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Kohta Fujiwara has been named president of Biokyowa and the Kyowa Foods plant to be under construction. "It has long been my dream to run a Kyowa Hakko Kogyo company in the States," he says. Mr. Fujiwara served previously as general manager of Kyowa's international operation division in Tokyo.

Kyowa Hakko Kogyo was established in 1949. It produces and markets pharmaceuticals, agro-chemicals, animal health products, foods, alcoholic beverages and chemicals. In 1997, net sales for food, 16.6 percent of the company's business, totaled $531 million. The company's consumer base spans more than 80 countries around the world.