The Kagome Story
Ichitaro Kanie, Kagome's founder, first succeeded in cultivating tomatoes in his garden in Japan in 1899. His success led to the formation of Kagome Co., Ltd. now one of the largest producers of tomato products in Japan. Beyond tomatoes, Kagome Japan produces a wide range of fruit and vegetable products, beverages, microwavable meals, and pro-biotic drinks following the company's mission to provide foods that are close to nature.
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Through innovation, research and development, Kagome Japan has pioneered new technologies designed to retain the maximum flavor, color, and nutritional value of fruits and vegetables. Our patented Reverse Osmosis technology produces second-to-none quality tomato juice, which is used in premium products from juices to entrees. The Kagome Japan research facility also maintains the largest privately-held tomato seed bank housing over 7500 seed varieties and use these varieties to select optimal tomatoes for each growing region and condition in the world and to protect vegetable crop global diversity.
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Kagome, in Japanese, describes a special star-pattern woven basket that Ichitaro Kanie, Kagome's founder, used to pick tomatoes from his backyard.
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In 1988, Kagome Japan established Kagome Inc. (Kagome) in Los Banos, California. The state-of-the-art production facility was completed in 1990, and we began shipping sauces to restaurant chains across the nation. Today, Kagome is known as one of the premier customized sauce developers and manufacturers for foodservice, servicing customers domestically and as far away as Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Australia.
To meet growing demand, Kagome has increased capacity at the Los Banos facility and in 2007 acquired and modernized Kagome Creative Foods. This acquisition has optimized distribution in the eastern portion of the U.S, and provided new product and packaging types to our Kagome portfolio.
As international foodservice markets emerge, Kagome has followed strategies to best service those markets. Inner Mongolia Kagome Foods Inc., was established in 2005, in the most desirable tomato growing region in China. Then shortly thereafter, in the European Union, Kagome became a major shareholder in an organization formed by the merger of two major Portuguese tomato processing companies, Italagro and F.I.T. With Kagome Japan's extensive resources across the globe in ingredient sourcing and manufacturing technologies we have successfully extended our international business initiatives, bringing the good taste of Kagome to every corner of the world.
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