The R&D structure of the dairy and healthcare and nutritionals businesses centers on three research facilities—the Research & Development Labs., the Food Science Research Labs., and the Food Technology Research Labs.—developing new products through extensive research in areas spanning tastiness, nutrition, functionality, quality, safety, and manufacturing technology.

While further advancing the development of applications for our core fermentation, probiotics, nutrition engineering, and emulsification technologies and actively participating in R&D cooperation and collaboration with domestic and overseas research institutions, our R&D operations aim to create new value for “food.” We also undertake the research and development of nutritional and sports nutrition products for general consumption, with the objective of contributing food products to support healthy lifestyles.

The R&D structure of the confectionery business centers on the Confectionery R&D Labs., which conduct a wide range of R&D activities, including the development of new products and manufacturing technologies, the advancement of research on cocoa, the development of quality assurance technologies, and the development and testing of functional materials. We identify customers' wants and needs, then propose the seeds for new products. R&D simultaneously focuses on basic research in materials, physical properties, and other food components as well as research on nutrient function, manufacturing methods and machinery, and technology to preserve tastiness.