U.S. Sorghum Snack Soon in Japan

May 23, 2001

Japanese consumers will soon be eating a U.S. made white sorghum snack, a new food product marketed by the U.S. Grains Council and the U.S. sorghum industry. The new product will be on Japanese grocery store shelves June 5.

The vegetable-flavored, puffed snacks, to be sold under the name "Vegetable Market," initially will be available in two varieties - "red' and "green." The snacks are packaged in 70-gram (roughly 2.5 ounce) bags that will sell for approximately 110 yen (90 cents). The sorghum snack is being produced by the Japanese company Tohato, Inc., and will be marketed to young families and health-conscious consumers. The bag reads: "We use white sorghum for this product, and sorghum is now regarded as an important grain next to rice, corn, soybean and wheat."

The U.S. Grains Council has been working to promote sorghum for food use in Japan for the last three years. Through USDA's Quality Samples Program, the council and U.S. sorghum growers provided samples of white sorghum to Japanese millers to be processed into flour. Japanese snack food processors then used the flour in research and recipe development.

After extensive milling and baking tests, the council held a seminar in Tokyo last June to present the results to nearly 50 Japanese nutritionists, snack food manufacturers and trading companies. These efforts led to the commercialization of "Vegetable Market" snack, and additional snack food products are expected to debut soon.

"In Japan, the snack food manufacturing is a booming business, making it a natural market for U.S. grain sorghum," explained Hiroko Sakashita, associate director of the council's Japan office. "By providing samples of white sorghum to the Japanese snack food sector, we allowed them to see the quality and value of U.S. food sorghum first hand. Now, they are enthusiastic customers."

Grain sorghum is one of the world's important cereal crops. While it is best known in the United States as a staple ingredient in livestock feed, more than 50 percent of sorghum worldwide is grown for human consumption. Sorghum has unique properties that make it well suited for food uses. It is rich in antioxidants and, because it is gluten-free, it is an attractive alternative for allergy sufferers. Because of its neutral taste, it absorbs other flavors well. Nutritionally, it is comprised of 11.3 percent protein and 3.3 percent fat, according to the National Grain Sorghum Producers Association.

More than 75% of world sorghum exports come from the United States, and more than 40% of the U.S. sorghum crop is exported. Kansas, Texas, Nebraska and Oklahoma are the primary sorghum-producing states.