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8 GENERAL NEWS Japanese Exports Continued from PAGE 1 from outside the country. Currently, more than half of Japan's farmer receipts come from the Japanese government itself. In contrast, U.S. farmers get just 7 percent of their revenues from the government. One particularly successful Japanese exporter is Dassai sake. Dassai sake started as a modest brand in the 1980s in Japan and spread to America about a decade ago. According to Asumi Saito, the sales representative in charge of Dassai sake sales in New York City and the East Coast, the product is currently offered in approximately 170 restaurants in the New York City area. It is also available through high quality Japanese specialty stores and in a number of other retail outlets. Dassai is distributed in New Jersey, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Delaware, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. "New York City was thought to be one of the most competitive and most sophisticated areas in the world. Therefore innovative and high-end products such as Dassai are easily tried but at the same time, easily denied," Saito said. "We thought if we succeeded in New York, we thought this meant that we could possibly succeed anywhere else in the future." Currently, Dassai's producer, Asahi Shuzo, gains about a tenth of total sales from exports. However, according to its president, Hiroshi Sakurai, that is just a starting point. Sakurai said that he hopes his Yamada Nishiki-based, "Junmai Daiginjo" kosher certified sake will generate as much as one half of its sales abroad. The Dassai model of going from niche to broader appeal venues is one way that distributors can capitalize on the growing thirst for Japanese imports in the United States. This is also how ITO EN made its way into the pantries of many U.S. consumers. ITO EN is a producer of green teas and tea products. The company's products expanded from niche Asian markets to groceries and retailers with a Food Labeling Continued from PAGE 1 the consumer, as they provide potentially relevant information to retailers, but nothing useful to consumers. In the place of "sell by" labels, a reliable, uniform system of consumer-facing date labels that can be understood and trusted should be instituted.This will entail establishing standard, clear language and ensuring these labels are predictably positioned on the packaging. It will also entail removing quality-based labels on non-perishable foods where safety is not a concern. According to the study, the food industry itself has an important role to play in curbing food waste. Food industry leaders are in a unique position to reduce confusion about date labels among consumers and improve consumer safety. The report urges actors within the food industry to support and easily convert to a new, uniform system of food date labeling. It also urges these actors to sell or donate near-expiration and expired food to charity and to work to educate con- GOURMET NEWS DECEMBER 2013 www.gourmetnews.com broader appeal. "It makes sense that if you have all these Pacific cuisines, you want to have beverages that complement those tastes," said Rona Tison, Senior Vice President of Corporate Relations for ITO EN North America. The company has been stateside for more than a decade, but has recently seen an uptick in interest and demand for its products. The appreciation for Japanese culture, and the chance to introduce an authentic, tasty Japanese beverage to the American market is what brought ITO EN teas across the Pacific and it is what keeps the business expanding past tea and into culinary matcha. "From the time that we have come to this country to today [the demand has risen] leaps and bounds," Tison said. According to Tison, there is plenty of room in the U.S. market for retailers to incorporate more imports from Japan, because the demand for ITO EN and other Japanese products, much like the trend toward natural and better-for-you eats, is not going anywhere any time soon. "When the natural food trend started to happen with the arrival of retailers such as Whole Foods, our all-natural bottled green teas fit right into the growing consumer demand for healthier beverages," Tison said. "Today the natural food trend has crossed over to the mainstream supermarkets. Sushi at one time was a niche product, but today can be found in airports even in the Midwest. With greater awareness and appreciation for Japanese cuisine and healthy products, there will be continued demand for authentic Japanese goods." Distributors and their retail partners can follow several different avenues to get the right Japanese products into stores and then into the hands of customers. But as far as retailers go, it is key not to lump all Asian products or demand for Asian products into the same group, according to KeHE's Jim Stange. The Asian-American population topped more than 18 million in the last census (a more than 40 percent jump in just 10 years). This population is poised to pass 20 million in the next five years. Because of this growth, Stange thinks it is important for retailers to develop ties with this consumer base now in order to tap into Asian immigrants looking for authentic foods, but also to reach out to other consumers who are hungry for authentic Japanese edibles. Jungle Jim's International Market is one example of a retailer that is doing just that. Jungle Jim's two markets in Fairfield and Cincinnati, Ohio, boast hundreds of thousands of square feet and more than 150,000 different products to choose from. A major purchaser of Asian products in the Midwest, Jungle Jim's sees the wealth of Japanese products currently available as a boon to retailers and consumers alike. By highlighting how the cooking style, texture and flavor of these products distinguishes Japanese imports from other Asian and global food categories, Jungle Jim's has been able to capture the attention of its adventurous consumer base. According to Jim Beckett, International Manager and Buyer at Jungle Jim's, his stores have recently seen a high demand for products from Japan. "Shopping our stores, you will see businessmen, tourists, restaurants and folks who are curious about incorporating new products into their cooking routine shopping for Japanese goods," he said. Beckett says other than green tea, sake and specialty beef, sweets are a growth area of Japanese imports, which are particularly in demand among both well-traveled customers and high school students. Beckett noted, "Natives of Japan love sweets! And they make them at a level that is unsurpassed. We're always on the lookout for the newest and coolest flavors." The team at Jungle Jim's believes that although some American companies might try to recreate what Japan has perfected, the stores' customers appreciate authentic products imported from Japan. "If we don't have [a product] here, our customers who travel abroad will come back and ask for items that they have seen on shelves in Japan, and we work hard to get those items here," Beckett said. "Our customers love that we are willing to source products for them." GN sumers about date labels and food safety. Even before the release of the Harvard/NRDC study, many within the food industry were already aware of the growing problem of food waste, working to reduce this waste and get surplus foods to those in need. Perhaps the most vociferous proponent of food waste reduction has been former Trader Joe's President Doug Rauch, who next year will open Daily Table, a store in Dorchester, Mass., which will prepare and repackage foods that are nearing their "sell by" date. According to Rauch, the goal of the project is to get food that is perfectly good to eat into the hands of underserved consumers. Most of what Daily Table will offer will be fruits and vegetables that may have slight blemishes but which are still nutritious and at the peak of freshness. Another group working to reduce the amount of food being placed in grocery store dumpsters is the Food Waste Reduction Alliance. FWRA asserts that food retailers have a special role to play in getting food out of landfills and into the hands of consumers. "It's clear we can and must do better when it comes to reducing food waste," said Michael Hewett, Director of Environmental and Sustainability Programs for Publix Super Markets, Inc. and Co-Chair of the FWRA. "It's important to find more ways to keep food and food waste out of landfills, identify the challenges that prevent us from doing so, and develop responsible policies to assist in these efforts." According to the FWRA, last year, food retailers donated 670 million pounds of safe, edible, nutritious food that would have otherwise ended up in the trash. In fact, the retail and wholesale sector had the most important role to play in reducing food waste, as it was responsible for 55.6 percent of all repurposed surplus food. Still, the food industry and retail sector alone can not successfully reduce food waste without the willing cooperation of consumers. Until consumers are educated on the proper shelf life of the foods they eat and the relatively arbitrary nature of food date labels, it is unclear how many will be clamoring to snatch up edibles that are marked as expired. This will be the biggest challenge of industry leaders, as they work toward getting products out of garbage cans and into grocery carts. GN

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