05/10/2022

Rijk Zwaan lettuce is rapidly gaining ground in Japan
Japan is known for its healthy and artful cuisine, yet raw vegetables and salads are typically used
only as a garnish or as small side dishes. Sun Globe Food’s new partnership with Rijk Zwaan is
helping to change this, starting with Knox™ Cos lettuce. “The Knox trait is groundbreaking for us,”explains Yoshikuni Anzai, chairman […]Japan is known for its healthy and artful cuisine, yet raw vegetables and salads are typically used only as a garnish or assmall side dishes. Sun Globe Food’s new partnership with Rijk Zwaan is helping to change this, starting with Knox™ Coslettuce. “The Knox trait is groundbreaking for us,” explains Yoshikuni Anzai, chairman of Sun Globe Food. Rijk Zwaan isshowcasing this lettuce at Asia Fruit Logistica from 2-4 November in Bangkok.

Partnership between Sun Globe Food and Rijk Zwaan
Sun Globe Food is a family-run business founded in 1978. Since then, Chairman Yoshikuni Anzai has constantly sought betterways of meeting demand. The fresh food company processes 15 tonnes of lettuce a day for business customers such as
popular fast-food outlets and the up-and-coming salad restaurant chain called Margo.
Sun Globe Food was aware of Rijk Zwaan’s innovations for business customers, and the demo field in Fijnaart made a strong
impression on mr Anzai when he visited in 2018. “It was truly interesting, with over 400 colourful leafy varieties,” Anzai says. “Iwas surprised that 70 employees were dedicated to the development of Knox lettuce alone.” The Knox trait delays pinking in
fresh-cut lettuce. To explore the benefits in practice, Sun Globe Food formed a partnership with Rijk Zwaan in 2018.

Knox solves persistent problems with shelf life
“We have been developing fresh-cut vegetables, especially iceberg lettuce, for our business customers over the past 40 years,
but certain issues have persisted,” Anzai explains. In particular, shelf life after harvesting and pinking after cutting are constantchallenges. “The development of addressing these issues inside a lettuce seed is groundbreaking for us.”
Ryoji Anzai, president of Sun Globe Food and the son of the chairman, comments: “In the Japanese market, ‘normal’ lettuce hasa shelf life of three days after arrival, but Knox lettuce has an expected shelf life around one week.”

Changing how Japanese consumers eat
Down the line to business customers, the partnership is working to bring a fresh new outlook on eating in Japan. Initially, thefocus has been on Rijk Zwaan Knox Cos variety Tuccadona RZ. “Compared with other varieties, Tuccadona RZ has a good
sense of freshness, crispness and flavour,” mr. Anzai notes. Since May 2019, Sun Globe Food has been supplying this variety
to Margo, Japan’s first-ever specialty salad chain. Its stylish urban stores feature something unusual in Japan: big, healthysalads. Needless to say, lettuce plays a central role.
“Thanks to strong support from Sun Globe Food, we now have five stores in Tokyo, and we can see signs that salad foods are
spreading in Japan, which has traditionally been carbohydrate heaven,” states Masayuki Tokoi, CEO of Margo. He is impressedby the reduced pinking along the cut edges of the Knox-lettuce, as well as the longer shelf life. He says this gives him a surplus
and that Margo’s “customers appreciate its appearance and taste”. In Japan, where the aesthetic appeal of food is valued
perhaps more than in any other country in the world, this is high praise indeed.

Win-win-win relationship with a strong future
Building on the success with Knox, the cooperation is now expanding into Crunchy lettuce and Snack lettuce. Both father andson are optimistic. “I am convinced Rijk Zwaan will be a partner that develops products together with us,” comments Ryoji Anzai.
His father echoes that sentiment, saying that he hopes the companies can share information and work together on newsolutions that satisfy business needs. Meanwhile, Tokoi, as the end customer, appreciates the strong supply chain. “Rijk Zwaan
is the world leader in developing lettuce varieties, the lifeblood of our products, so that’s very reassuring,” he concludes. Leafy
vegetables appear to have a bright future in Japan.
Visit Rijk Zwaan at Asia Fruit Logistica
To stimulate retailers, traders and other chain partners in Asia to add more colour in the fresh produce category, Rijk Zwaan will
showcase its colourful palette of bright, healthy and inspiring vegetables at Asia Fruit Logistica from 2-4 November in Bangkok.
Come and meet us at stand F-17!