Aishitoto Recognized as 'Excellent Corporation for Shokuiku Practice 2026' by MAFF

## About the 'Shokuiku Jissen Yuryo Hojin' (Excellent Corporation for Shokuiku Practice) Award

This certification system was newly established by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in July 2025 to promote 'Adult Food Education' for the working generation. It targets corporations that actively work to improve employees' dietary habits (such as providing healthy meals and creating healthy eating customs) and aim to enhance corporate vitality and spread excellent initiatives. The first set of certified corporations was announced in the spring of 2026.

Representative: Hatsue Iwamoto

## Background of Aishitoto's Award: The 27-Year Policy of 'Parents Do Not Charge Their Children for Food'

Since its founding 27 years ago, Aishitoto has been committed to dietary education to protect the health of its employees and their families. At the heart of this is Representative Iwamoto's management philosophy known as 'Nagaya (row house) Management.'

'Just like in the old-fashioned Nagaya, let's take care of all the children and parents as a whole company.'
'Employees are like my own children, and no parent charges their children for food.'

Driven by this strong sentiment, Aishitoto provides free, handmade, healthy lunches every day. The buffet-style lunch, featuring miso soup made from scratch using carefully extracted stock from dried sardines, shiitake mushrooms, bonito, and kelp, fermented foods, house-made tofu, and multi-grain rice harvested by employees themselves, along with vegetables from their own farm, is the 'taste of Aishitoto's mother' and the core of employee health management.

### Main Dietary Education and Internal Support Initiatives

- Daily handmade healthy buffet lunch (provided free of charge)
- 'Shokuiku' experiences where employees and their families participate together in rice planting, miso making, and mochi pounding
- Provision of a free kids' room (an environment where employees can bring their babies to work)
- Support for child-rearing, allowing children to accompany parents to work during summer holidays, with free lunch provided for them as well

## Remarkable 'Effects' of the Initiatives

Long-term engagement in dietary education is yielding clear, ongoing results:

1. **0% Obesity Rate and Excellent Health Check-ups:** Thanks to daily healthy meals, there is currently no obesity among employees, and everyone achieves excellent results in their medical check-ups.
2. **Spread of 'Shokuiku' to Households:** Through lunches at the company, employees' knowledge and awareness of food have improved, leading to healthier dietary habits in their homes and contributing to the health of their entire families.
3. **100% Maternity Return Rate:** Through the provision of a free kids' room and the acceptance of children accompanying parents to work during summer holidays, the company maintains a 100% maternity return rate. They have realized a workplace environment where child-rearing generations can work with peace of mind and thrive for years.

## Future Prospects: Delivering Health to the World

'As a health food company that provides health to the world, if the employees themselves are not healthy, we cannot make our customers healthy. Human health is built from food.' Guided by this belief, Aishitoto will continue to practice employee-first dietary education. Furthermore, the company has started operating a student cafeteria at a local high school, supporting the food education of the local community as well. Taking this 'Excellent Corporation for Shokuiku Practice' certification as an opportunity, the company will spread its initiatives as a model case to society and strive even further to contribute to raising the health standards of the working generation in Japan.