Kagome will launch nationwide on March 10 an orange-flavored 100% juice that does not use orange juice. The product name is “Beyond Orange-Flavored 100% Juice Without Using Oranges” (195 ml paper container, expected retail price around 140 yen). The company positions the product as the first item in its new brand “KAGOME Beyond,” which leverages its vegetable-and-fruit blending technology to go beyond conventional assumptions. Amid continued rises in raw material costs, it is drawing attention as a new countermeasure.
Due to reduced orange production caused by abnormal weather and hurricanes, coupled with the weak yen, orange juice prices have soared. Over the past three years, they have risen to roughly three times their previous level.
Naturally, shelf prices have also surged, reducing opportunities for consumers to enjoy orange juice. Kagome believed that new technology might create new drinking occasions, and by using the blending know-how and technology cultivated through the development of vegetable-and-fruit mixed juices, it succeeded in reproducing the taste and aroma of orange without using orange juice.
To recreate the orange-specific “richness of flavor” and “refreshing sweetness,” the new product compared and evaluated ingredients from around the world. In the process, it focused on New Zealand-grown “yellow carrots,” rich in minerals, which have less of the earthy smell typical of ordinary carrots and offer a fruity, natural sweetness. Using these yellow carrots as a base, the company combined “apple” to add sweetness, “pineapple” to add a tropical aroma, as well as lemon and mango, arriving at the optimal balance from an enormous number of test formulations. The company also paid special attention to the cloudy appearance characteristic of 100% orange juice, and after about two years of trial and error in ingredient selection and blending, and after roughly 40 prototype variations, the product was completed. Retailers also reportedly hold Kagome’s new challenge in high regard.
