Visions - Summer 2011 - (Page 12)

L I V I N G R E L AT E D B U S I N E S S New Pork Product Enjoys “Silky” Smooth Sales SCOA’s Food Business Unit Brings New “Yongenton Silky Pork” to the Japanese Dinner Table S COA’s Food Business Unit has enjoyed a healthy relationship with meat supplier Smithfield Foods since 1994, and with the recent introduction of a new hybrid pork product, SCOA is enjoying healthy profits from sales to customers in Japan. “Yongenton Silky Pork” is a new branded meat introduced to Japanese pork lovers just last year. As pork aficionados know, Sangenton pork, which is widely available in Japan, is generally a crossbreed of three breeds: Large Yorkshire (Large White), Landrace and Duroc. The new Silky Pork is a four-breed crossbreed of Sangenton and Chester White, which is a very rare hog breed in Japan. By crossing the four breeds, a beautiful pale rose color and tender meat texture result. The branded pork is characterized by marbling called sashi. This quality pork with soft and gentle yet sweet fat, but with no strong smell and heaviness, became available in Japan toward the end of 2010. Credited to SCOA’s dedication to quality, this brand of pork has quality and safety standards which exceed that of Japanese pork, and can be appreciated most on Japanese dining tables when used for main dishes such as tonkatsu and shabu-shabu. To achieve the level of marbling preferred by Japanese consumers, researchers developed a special mixed feed to create the optimal fat percentage in the pork by adjusting the amino acid balance of the feed. The joint research efforts of staff in the United States and Japan have resulted in the establishment of the more fine-tuned, unique feeding technique to achieve these taste and nutritional levels. Tadashi Yamashita, Director and Head of SCOA’s Food Business Unit, said the marbling also allows for a more elite consumer level of purchasing.“As this is a differentiated program,” Yamashita said of the product sales in Japan, “we can sell it at higher price and capture some new accounts for customers who are interested in something different from their competitors’ products.” SCOA takes particular care in regard to safety controls and has designated Goldsboro Hog Farm exclusively to produce Yongenton Silky Pork. Goldsboro, a designated farm of Smithfield Company Inc., has a stellar reputation due to its policy of raising hogs in a healthy manner. Jointly with the Ivey brothers, the managers of the farm, the management adopted a method of feeding hogs with nine different types of mixed feed, as opposed to the three types of mixed feed usually fed to hogs according to the various stages of growth. The hogs that produce this specific pork are raised in a clean environment and managed by full-time veterinarians and dieticians. The feed is inspected for residual pesticides and any foreign substances. Pork processed at Smithfield is known for complete traceability as part of their standard tradition of quality and SCOA’s “farm to fork” program. Smithfield employs a system capable of identifying the process stage and location of pork using bar-codes. Moreover, in order to transport pork not frozen, but refrigerated, to Japan, SCOA developed an independent tracking route to transport the product from the east coast of the United States where the processing plant is located, to the west coast. At the same time, temperatures inside the containers heading for Japan are also recorded. This system allows safe and secure pork to be delivered fresh to Japanese consumers. Produced with the aforementioned world-class technologies and dedication to safety, this high quality product can be seen on the shelves in wider Japanese markets, thanks in part to the sales force of SC Foods who are expanding the reach of Silky Pork. “Last year it was just trial, and this year’s target is to ship 5000 metric tons (MT) to Japan,”Yamashita said. “If everything goes well, we expect to ship 10,000 MT the next year.” For more information, please contact Tadashi Yamashita at Tadashi.Yamashita@sumitomocorp.com. 12 v i s i o n s S u m m e r 2 0 1 1 Sumitomo Corpor ation of America

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Visions - Summer 2011

Visions - Summer 2011
Table of Contents
Meet SCOA’s New President and CEO Takashi Kano
Tri-Arrows Aluminum Inc. Emerges To Help SCOA Conquer Aluminum Business
SCOA Brings New DMU Rail Systems to California and Canada
New Pork Product Enjoys “Silky” Smooth Sales

Visions - Summer 2011