Latin American “superfoods” making their way into the Japanese market

The “superfoods”, products with a high nutritional value such as peruvian cocoahe avocado Mexican or Brazilian açaí, are the great Latin American bet in the framework of Foodex, the largest food fair in Asia.

The main event for the Tokyo food industry, which opened its doors last Tuesday and is expected to attract some 30,000 visitors until it closes next Friday, welcomes more than 2,500 companies from 60 countries in its 48th edition, including them, dozens of eight Latin American countries.

On the Mexican side, the avocado, one of the star products in the Japanese market, filled the country’s stand with different shades of green -depending on the level of ripeness-, which exported some 1.350 million dollars in agri-food products to Japan last year. last year.

“The perception of the Mexican product is very good, it is a safe product, of high quality and very competitive in price. We are market leaders in avocado, we are in fourth place in pork and also leaders in asparagus, tequila and mezcal”, Alberto Cuéllar, head of the Agriculture area of ​​the Mexican embassy in Japan, explained to Efe.

Brazil, for its part, dyed its Foodex stand purple with the açaía wild-growing palm fruit whose berries are an essential food in the diet of the indigenous people of the Amazon and are now part of the regular breakfast of many people around the world.

“The main reason for its popularity is the nutritional benefit it provides, since it is rich in antioxidants, but also the social aspect, since this fruit helps maintain the current state of the forests,” As explained by Izabella Mello, from the Brazilian company Petruz, which markets this product frozen and in powder form.

According to Mello, who recommends eating it for breakfast mixed with banana and granola, the farmers who collect this wild fruit decide to keep the forest intact and not sell their land to large corporations for more intensive uses.

Peruwhich has been positioning itself as an international producer of “superfoods” with supplements such as maca -a type of powdered Peruvian ginseng-, opted this year for the cocoa and its great antioxidant properties and beneficial fats.

“Cocoa is antioxidant and energetic and is a very natural product that can be produced organically,” said Gennaro Lettieri, founder of the artisan chocolate shop Tesoro Amazónico, which produces organic chocolate, cocoa beans and mass, as well as a type of sugar-free sweetener based on this product.

In addition to their well-known beef meats, this year Argentines brought their healthy mate tea to Foodex, a product that is now seeking to make its way into the Japanese market where it is already common to consume other types of teas, such as matcha or sencha -varieties of green tea-

“Mate contains many minerals and polyphenols, so it is good for energy”said Yoichi Maeno, importer of the well-known brand of yerba mate Taragüi to Japan, although as he explained, the Japanese consumer still has to get used to its taste.

The Argentine company Pietrelli It also brought its dehydrated fruits, such as raisins and plums, which are used for consumption as a “snack” or also in preparations such as bread or pastries, and have a lot of nutritional fiber.

Source: EFE