IMPORTING  

If you are currently exporting product into Japan or are wishing to start exporting to Japan you are at the right place. Let’s start with some questions…

Your company has a name but does it have a brand?

 If you sell to a Japanese importer chances are they use their own brand. If you are working hard and striving to produce a better quality product are you getting recognized for it or are they? Like in the image above (name altered to protect the identity of the company), which is advertising the importers brand in the largest train station in Japan, does your product get mixed up with other company's products that are possibly of lower quality, are unsafe, unsustainbly fished, polluting the environment etc.?

Bottom line is, your customers who you probably don't know are loyal to your importer for your product. You are helping to create value to their brand - not yours. Read on to find out what SSJ can offer you in this area...

Do you know what this label is?	What about this black and white code?
Is this mark familiar?	Do you know what these letters stand for?

Who are your customers? How does the quality of your product compare to that of your competitors?

OK. Answers to the first four questions…

The first label is the mark of the Japanese Agricultural Standards. The group regulates and sets the standards for safety of any food item sold in Japan. Does your product meet the standards set by this organization? The black and white code is a 2-dimentional barcode – it is also your gateway to the Japanese consumer - read on to find out more. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is a non-profit, accreditation organization for wild fisheries that are operating sustainably. The MSC is making huge gains in Japan with the major retailers. RFID stands for radio frequency identification – it is the future of product identification and will replace barcodes in the near future – read on to find out how this technology could be used to trace your product through the supply chain and even have your fridge order beer for you when you are running low!

Anyway back to seafood… You may have these logos, standards, and use these technologies, you may not. If not SSJ can help you get them. If you do have them do your consumers know about them? They are of limited use if your customers do not know what they mean, are not being told you have them, or are not getting any benefit from them. Seafood Services Japan helps you connect with your customers and maximise the qualities of the product you supply them. Read on to find out how SSJ can help your company.

THE SSJ DIFFERENCE…

As a fisher or aquaculturist how do you evaluate the impact of a particular harvest or post-harvest handling technique? Is the cost of purchasing and using bi-phasic liquid ice going to have ‘quality’ benefits that consumers will pay for? How do you evaluate the benefits of using vitamin’s E and C in your feed or even in your RSW? Does it prolong shelf-life? How much can you add before the flavour of your product changes? If it changes, is it an unacceptable, acceptable, or a preferable change? If you use a cheaper feed will it negatively impact the quality of the product? How do you know what your consumer wants? How do you know that you are getting ‘good service’ from your air-freight provider? Are you happy with the feedback you get from the market? What service does your importer provide? In conjunction with its collaborators SSJ attempts to help producers answer these types of questions.

SSJ is much more than a conventional importer. It plays a much greater role in the management of the supply chain to ensure the product being supplied is the best it possibly can be from water to shelf. SSJ works with its suppliers to measure and improve the quality of the products they produce in an attempt to improve the overall profitability of their operations. It does this by working with the people on the ground and with the end users of the product.

Conventional importers in the supply chain often limit operations to the handling of paperwork and arranging shipments for delivery to their customers – often putting their label on the product and not that of the producer. Furthermore, as many do not have direct communications with the end users of the products they import, they are a part of a dysfunctional information feedback mechanism within the supply chain that either fails completely in providing feedback to producers, or misinforms producers (see Fig. 1).

Figure 1: The flow of product and information through a general seafood supply chain and the role of stakeholders.

SSJ, however, strives to work with producers, processors, freight handlers, distributors, retailers and end users with a view to manage the supply chain and the flow of information to ensure the needs of customers and producers are being met. It achieves these through subjective and objective data generation and regular consultation with stakeholders Fig. 2).

Figure 2: The role of SSJ in managing the supply chain and the flow of information amongst stakeholders.

Where possible, SSJ attempts to establish a Chain of Responsibility (COR) Agreement between all members of a supply chain. A signatory member to a COR agreement guarantees commitment to best practices and to the servicing of the needs of other supply chain members. In return, the commitment and efforts of members are conveyed to retailers and consumers.

SSJ SERVICES

SAFETY TESTING & QUALITY MEASUREMENT
‘Quality’ can be tangible – such as the amount of pigment in the muscle of a fish, or it can be intangible – such as information or a service that provides a customer with a feeling of security or satisfaction. In order to improve these qualities in a product it is first necessary to have ways to measure them. Both subjective and objective techniques require the identification of relevant parameters and the selection and/or development of testing protocols. Once the ‘quality’ of the product is able to be measured it is then possible to examine the impacts of on-site and in-chain practices on the qualities of the final product. Read on to find out the ways in which SSJ measures, monitors, and improves the qualities of the seafood it imports.

The two areas of most concern to retailers and consumers in the purchasing and consumption of seafood are ‘safety and quality’. Firstly, it must be safe to consume both in the short term (microbiologically) and in the long term (pollutants and residues). Secondly, within these safety limits, it must be as ‘fresh and tasty’ as possible. So what and how do you measure these?


SAFETY TESTING
SSJ can regularly test for microbiological spoilage, toxins, pollutants, and residues of concern to the health of consumers. The results of which can be provided to both the retailers and consumers of the product via a variety of media. Often required by retailers in Japan, microbiological examinations to evaluate the presence of bacteria or organisms of public health significance can be undertaken.

Chemical contaminants such as dioxins and PCB’s, heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium and lead, residues of veterinary drugs, and other non-degradable organic pollutants can also be assessed. Importantly, these are measured in the target market and therefore using techniques that ensure equivalence with the regulatory bodies. Japanese retailers and consumers therefore have greater confidence the product is safe and meets with the maximum allowable levels in Japan.

For a full list of microbiological and chemical tests click here.

QUALITY TESTING
Physico-chemical: SSJ is able to measure a range of physico-chemical indicators of quality and link them to any on-farm or in-chain manipulations or variations. Potential measures include Total Volatile Basic amines (TVB), Ammonia, Di- & Trimethylamine, Biogenic Amines, Nucleotide Catabolites, Hydroperoxides, TBARS, pH, Chromameter & Digital Colour, and the Rheological properties of seafood. SSJ consults with producers to identify the relevance of each parameter to a particular objective.

Sensory Measurement: Sensory tests are not just simple ‘taste tests’. The modern discipline of sensory science draws upon the theories and practices of food science, physiology, psychology and statistics to analyse the appearance, odour, flavour and texture of foods using the human senses. Sensory evaluation of the properties of foods is considered to be the most direct and the most sensitive measure and are often used as ‘gold standards’ that underpin instrumental techniques that quantify the physico-chemical properties of a food.

SSJ, with it collaborators in Japan, can employ previously applied sensory techniques or develop new sensory techniques to better suit your objectives and/or your products peculiarities. In running a sensory test there is much to consider. You need to consider your test subjects – e.g. Chinese or Australian panellists to test raw abalone? Are they experienced, trained, and able to respond consistently? You need to consider the statistical robustness of the test – e.g. one 200kg tuna and 50 panellists or 50 prawns and 5 panellists? You need to consider the different parts of the product being tested? Are there lean and fatty parts and are they sold separately and at different costs? These and many more issues need to be addressed before affective testing can be undertaken – be them discriminative or descriptive. Discriminative tests are used to determine if a difference exists between samples (triangle test, ranking test) and descriptive tests are used to determine the nature and intensity of the differences (profiling and quality tests). For more information on the above and how SSJ can tailor a test to meet your objectives click here.


EXPERT EVALUATION
Tsukiji Wholesale Fish Market is the largest fish market in the world where product is assessed and sold via auction or negotiation. Central to this are the seven major wholesaling companies that present product to the many intermediary wholesalers of the market. Within these companies are quality experts working in divisions separated by species. It is these experts that can provide quality-related feedback to seafood producers and handlers. SSJ regularly works with these experts to provide its suppliers with feedback on the quality of the product they supply to the market. Combined with monitoring of the cold-chain and linking in with the production/catching environment, processes and practices that affect quality either positively or negatively can be evaluated.


COLD-CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Temperature, from the point of euthanasia, through distribution, and during storage affects not only the microbiological status of seafood products but also its bio-chemical and physical structure, and, subsequently, the sensory qualities of the final product as well. It is therefore necessary to manage the cold chain as effectively as possible to ensure premium quality seafood remains that way by the time it is on the auction floor or the supermarket shelves when the purchasing decisions are being made. Using time-temperature recording data loggers inside and/or alongside the product, the time-temperature profiles of a shipment can be monitored from the point of capture to the point of sale. This helps to ensure that the cold-chain is being managed effectively by processors and freight handlers and insures that the freshest quality product is delivered to your customers.

TRACEABILITY

Do you know what this is?

It is a 2-Dimensional barcode known as a QR code – but it is a lot more than that. It is the gateway to the Japanese consumer. Mobile phones in Japan have the ability to scan the code and connect to the internet. This enables you to connect to your customers directly and supply them with information and them to provide you with feedback.

These QR codes can also be integrated with these…

Temperature recording radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. Using radio frequencies, information can be written to and read from the tags enabling products to not only be traced through the supply chain but a whole range of additional information to accompany the product. This can include product history information; recipe, allergy, nutritional information; company profiles; expiration alarms etc. When scanned by consumers the information can be accessed on PC’s or on phones, or even by fridges! In the future your fridge will send you an email to let you know the milk is past its used by date and order you more from the store over the internet! Yes this will work for beer too gentlemen – you will program your fridge to order you more when you get down to 5 bottles!

On a more serious note - retailers and consumers alike are demanding full traceability of the products they purchase and consume. Traceability provides not only the end users with a sense of security should something go wrong in the cold chain, but also provides for better on-site and in-chain management practices to be identified. Furthermore, having full traceability can protect your company from what otherwise can be industry-wide product bans that occur from time to time in the food industry due viral outbreaks or contaminations. SSJ can work with your company and product to tailor a traceability system that meets both your needs and that of your customers.

So with the safety of your product monitored, its quality continually improving, and it tracked through the supply chain, the one thing you need to do is let people know about your product and its advantages. So we move on to…


MARKETING & PROMOTIONS..
Do you have a brand? Do you have goodwill? Is your product considered a premium product? Consider the following exerts…

Tesco, the giant and most successful supermarket chain in the U.K., found, while looking at its customer base for a typical retail outlet, that the top 100 customers were worth the same as the bottom 4,000. It also found that the bottom 25% of customers represented only 2% of sales, and that the top 5% of customers were responsible for 20% of sales….

In June 2001, Prescott Foods Limited, a listed Australian company, acquired all of the issued capital of Crystal Lake (a family owned beverage company in Sydney that started in 1973) for $330 million. At the acquisition date, Crystal Lake had net tangible assets of $35 million. As a result, the total value of intangible assets acquired by Prescott was equal to $295 million.

These are prime examples of the value of knowing your customer, positioning a product at the premium end of the market, and branding. Japanese consumers love brands. If you are a producer selling seafood into Japan is your brand being lost – is your goodwill going to your importer? Do your customers know who you are? A brand is more than a label. Whether a fisher or a farmer you can differentiate your product with terms such as sustainable, environmentally friendly, animal welfare, minimal by-catch, HACCP, ISO … , JAS, MSC etc. Even if you have some or all of these standards and competitive advantages, if your customers don’t know about them they are ineffective and/or just a cost to your business.

SSJ provides a number of services to assist companies to brand and market their products in the Japanese market. These include the setting up of a website that informs consumers, provides them a contact point, and, via a member log-in portal, provides commercially sensitive information to partner companies within the supply chain. SSJ can also produce company brochures, pamphlets, posters as well a range of other branded produce.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT SERVICES
Japan Office: Apart from the website SSJ, and as SSJ operates as an importer-agent, we provide our Tsukiji office as a contact point for your company in Japan. Additionally, it is possible to have a separate phone line and have all queries answered in your company name. With Japanese speaking staff to provide a more direct contact point for stakeholders and consumers this service thus provides greater piece of mind for those that sell and consume your product in Japan.

Face-to-Face Representation: On-the-ground staff meeting with your customers using business cards with your logo provides you with a continual market presence enabling for direct, rapid, and personal communication with the people that sell and purchase your product.


CONTACT DETAILS

SEAFOOD SERVICES JAPAN LTD.
2002 HIGASHI GINZA BUILDING
6-19-21 TSUKIJI, CHUO-KU
TOKYO, JAPAN 104-0045
TEL: +81 (0)3 5926 4670
FAX: +81 (0)3 4496 6223
www.seafoodservices.jp