[Rediscovering Waste] ⑤ Japan's 62 Trillion Economic Loss... "Changing Perspective Reveals a 'Goldmine'"

Interview with Doukairin Sonoko, Executive Officer of Oisix
Introducing the 'Green Project' in Fresh Food Distribution and Sales
Aiming to Solve Food-Related Social Issues through Business
Reduced Food Loss by 118 Tons over Three Years Since 2021

"Food upcycling is meaningful not only because it promotes coexistence with farmers but also because it breathes new life into discarded or low-quality food products, and I believe its growth potential is significant."

Sonoko Doukai, Executive Officer (Director) of Oisix ra daichi, a Japanese fresh food distribution and sales specialist company, recently spoke to Asia Economy about the potential of the food upcycling market in Japan.

He said, "There is growing concern in Japan about food waste generated in households, restaurants, and workplaces," adding, "Interest in food upcycling is gradually increasing because it creates new types of products by utilizing food by-products that have been overlooked until now and contributes to solving environmental issues."

Sonoko Doukairin, Executive Officer of Oisix, is introducing the food upcycling initiatives the company is promoting in an interview with Asia Economy.

Oisix is a subscription service platform that regularly delivers fresh and organic foods. It handles various food products, including home meal replacements (HMR), with the aim of "providing ordinary households with rich and diverse diets" through safe and reliable food. As of March this year, the number of subscribers was approximately 368,000. The company entered the food upcycling business in July 2021 through the "Green Project," led by Executive Officer Doukai, an expert in product planning and development.

Sonoko Doukairin, Executive Officer of Oisix, is introducing the food upcycling initiatives the company is promoting in an interview with Asia Economy.

Executive Officer Doukai explained, "The project was formed with the intention of solving social issues related to food through business. We identified 'food loss'?food that is edible but discarded?as a priority area closely linked to environmental problems and focused our efforts there." He said Oisix was the first company in Japan to create and sell products under the term "food upcycling." He added, "While working as a product developer in the past, I confirmed that food loss occurs significantly at agricultural production sites and factories. I was confident that if we could create new products using this, the food upcycling market in Japan would expand in the future."

Even in Japan, where frugality is considered a virtue, concerns about discarded food are deep. According to estimates by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of the Environment, food loss in Japan was about 5.22 million tons last year. The economic loss from disposing of this amount is approximately 6.75 trillion yen (about 62 trillion won) annually, accounting for about 6.3% of Japan's national budget.

Moreover, Japan's food self-sufficiency rate?the proportion of domestically produced food in total food consumption?was below 37% in 2020, which is relatively low. During the same period, Australia’s rate was 200%, the United States 132%, France 125%, and the United Kingdom 65%. South Korea’s rate is around 45%.

For this reason, the Japanese government has set a goal under the Food Recycling Law to reduce food loss generated by food companies by 50% by 2030 compared to 2000 (5.47 million tons) and encourages companies to actively participate. Japanese companies are also actively engaging in food sharing and food upcycling.

Oisix has developed 112 food upcycling products over three years until July this year. Representative products include snack chips made from vegetable by-products previously considered unsellable, such as broccoli stems, eggplant stems, and radish peels. Popular items also include frozen bananas for smoothies made from bananas with surface blemishes that could not be distributed, dried plums leftover from making plum wine, and chocolate balls coated with processed chocolate made from coffee grounds.

Oisix sells these products to its subscription members and supplies some to offline stores such as convenience stores and supermarkets. The packaging of these products is marked separately with an upcycling label. After tasting the actual distributed products, the taste and texture were not inferior to regular products, and the design and composition were not off-putting.

As of July this year, the amount of food loss collected and reduced through collaboration with production sites and food-related businesses via food upcycling by Oisix has reached a cumulative total of 118 tons. From the producers’ perspective, since they can generate additional income from agricultural and marine product scraps that were previously discarded, they sometimes proactively propose ideas for producing food upcycling products.

(From the left) Food upcycling products produced by Oisix, including dried fruit made from plums used for plum wine, snacks made from white shrimp shells, and choco balls coated with processed chocolate using coffee grounds. A logo indicating that these are food upcycling products is printed at the top of the packaging.

A representative example is shrimp chips made from the shells of white shrimp, one of the three major seafood products of Hokuriku in Toyama Prefecture. Previously, the heads and shells, which account for about 60% of the white shrimp’s weight, were all incinerated because their salt content made them unsuitable even for compost. An employee of a processing company, reluctant to see this waste, inquired with Oisix about ways to utilize it for food upcycling, leading to product development. Brown rice snacks made from seaweed stems with holes, which reduced their marketability, are also products reflecting producers’ voices.

Executive Officer Doukai emphasized, "Food upcycling products definitely have an effect on improving environmental issues," but added, "Rather than focusing too much on eco-friendliness, highlighting the value of being delicious and new in form will be much more helpful in expanding the related market." He also expressed hope that ideas and product development reflecting this would expand in South Korea as well.

※ This project was supported by the Press Promotion Fund, funded by government advertising fees.