"Sustainable Food Days" was held from July 2023th to 7th, 24 at the employee cafeteria of the Tokyo headquarters of Marubeni Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "Marubeni"), a major trading company.
Since the employee cafeteria is used by many employees, for example,Panasonic CorporationIt has become popular as a touchpoint for communicating the current state of sustainable seafood and marine resources, with these initiatives at the forefront.
What was the aim of this event, and what effect did it have? We will tell you about it along with the events that took place on the day.
Marubeni imports a variety of environmentally friendly products in addition to seafood. For example, we handle one-third of the coffee imported into Japan, and have been working for over 3 years to support education in producing areas and improve working conditions.
However, there are not many opportunities for employees to learn about the company's sustainable products and sustainability efforts. Therefore, multiple departments are working together across the company on the topic of "food" to hold "Sustainable Food Days" with the aim of raising employee awareness of sustainable foods, containers and efforts, and of sustainability. The event has been held every six months since fiscal 2021, and it is expected that the event will also help market the company's products through media exposure.
Marubeni's Tokyo headquarters cafeteria is used by approximately 1 employees per day, and approximately 1,600 meals of each lunch menu were served per day for the event's limited menu. During the event, efforts were made to ensure that employees noticed the event, such as displaying panels about sustainable seafood at the entrance to the cafeteria and playing videos in the company elevators. The panels explained the current state of marine resources and sustainable seafood, and Ryo Takahashi from the Seafood Legacy Planning and Sales Department also lent his support.
Left: During the event, explanatory panels about the current state of marine resources and sustainable seafood were set up at the entrance to the cafeteria. Right: The event was also promoted with videos on the screens in the cafeteria.
On the first and second days, the ASC-certified "Barramundi Seafood Rice Bowl - Sesame Marinated and Raw" was served. Barramundi (Japanese name: Minami-Akame) is a fish of the Akame family that lives in tropical regions and is attracting attention as a large farmed fish that is highly resistant to climate change.
The barramundi used in the menu was farmed by Australis in Vietnam, and until now had mainly been exported to the US, but Marubeni has now begun importing it to Japan. As its color resembles that of red sea bream, it is also suitable as a sushi topping, and it is expected that demand for it in Japan will increase in the future as a certified sushi topping.
When we asked several employees who chose the barramundi seafood bowl why they chose it, some of them said things like, "I saw the ASC panel in the cafeteria," and "I was intrigued by the unusual name 'barramundi.'" Additionally, many of them said that although they didn't know about the ASC or the issues facing the fishing industry, they would like to choose sustainable seafood if the price was not much different from regular products.
On the fourth and fifth days (the final day), a "Land-farmed Salmon Seafood Chirashi-ju" was served. Marubeni believes this is the first time that land-farmed salmon has been served in a company cafeteria in Japan.
Marubeni has signed an exclusive sales contract for Atlantic salmon produced at Proximer's closed recirculating land-based aquaculture (RAS) plant in Oyama, Shizuoka Prefecture, and the salmon farmed there is scheduled to be sold in Japan from next year.
At the final day's food education event for children, employees explained to the children about global environmental issues and the relationship between closed-recirculation land-based aquaculture and sustainability, and at the end, a tasting session of land-based farmed salmon was also held.
At Marubeni, we believe that clarifying and implementing our medium- to long-term corporate policies regarding the global environment and social issues will directly lead to increased non-financial value and corporate value.*1We have been working to improve sustainability based on this idea.
Takahashi from Seafood Legacy's Planning and Sales Department, which cooperated with this event, said, "Introducing sustainable food to employee cafeterias has always been one of the ways that companies have contributed to the SDGs. With this event, we are promoting sustainable products from the company whose parents work not only to adults, but also to children, who will be the future purchasing demographic. This is a major milestone for a company to serve sustainable seafood in its employee cafeterias, and we feel that this is an effective model case that combines awareness-raising with long-term business development."
Mr. Fujimoto of the Planning Section of the Strategic Planning Office and Sustainability Promotion Department of the Food 1 and 2 Divisions, who led the "Sustainable Food Days," said, "In addition to the traditional elements required of food, such as deliciousness, quality, and safety, our company has a responsibility to make dining tables around the world sustainable by planning and proposing food that can solve environmental and social issues. This time, in addition to our employees and the media, we had the children of our employees, who will be the future of our company, learn about the sustainable foods we handle and actually try them. We received comments such as, 'The salmon was delicious. When I grow up, I want to work in a job that helps people.' I would be happy if the delicious memories of eating sustainable food with their parents will inspire these children to think about food, the future, and their future careers."
*1 Marubeni Sustainability: https://marubeni.disclosure.site/ja/themes/11/
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