MORINAGA MILK

History

Morinaga Milk was founded as Nippon Rennyu Co., Ltd. in 1917 with the primary aim of manufacturing dairy products. The company merged with Morinaga & Co., Ltd and was then split off, taking its current form as Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd. in 1949. Morinaga Milk Group celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2017. In addition to condensed milk and infant formula, products that it has offered since its founding, the Group has produced a wide range of products based on milk, including Morinaga Pasteurized Milk, Bifidus Yogurt, Creap (creaming powder), and Mt. RAINIER CAFFÈ LATTE.

1917～

  1. 1917

    Founded as Nippon Rennyu Co., Ltd.

  2. 1919

    Launched Morinaga Milk, small cans of condensed milk

  3. 1921

    Launched Morinaga Dried Milk (infant formula)

  4. 1929

    Launched Morinaga Pasteurized Milk (bottled milk)

  5. 1933

    Launched Morinaga Cheese

  6. 1937

    Launched Morinaga Yogurt

  7. 1947

    Launched Morinaga Ice Cream

  8. 1949

    Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd. established

  9. 1954

    Shares listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange

  10. 1955

    Arsenic Milk poisoning incident occurred

  11. 1961

    Launched Creap (creaming powder)

    Left: Product at the time of its launch
    Right: Product sold today

  12. 1966

    Commercial milk plant in Nagoya opened (currently the Chukyo plant)

    Tokyo Tama plant opened

1970～

  1. 1970

    Affiliation with Kraft, Inc. (currently the Kraft Heinz Company and Mondelēz International, Inc.)

  2. 1971

    Conclusion of a trademark licensing agreement with Sunkist Growers, Inc.

  3. 1972

    Joint venture company MILEI GmbH established in West Germany

  4. 1974

    Established Public Interest Incorporated Foundation Hikari Kyokai

  5. 1978

    Launched Morinaga Bifidus Yogurt

    Left: Product at the time of its launch
    Right: Product sold today

  6. 1981

    Launched long-life handy packaged milk-based drink Piknik

    Left: Product at the time of its launch
    Right: Product sold today

  7. 1984

    Conclusion of trademark licensing agreement with Lipton UK (currently Unilever Japan Beverage K.K.)

  8. 1985

    Morinaga Nutritional Foods, Inc. (US) established and full-scale sales of TOFU launched

    Product sold today

    Manufacturing technology licensing agreement for infant and toddler milk signed in Indonesia

  9. 1989

    Research & Information Center opened

  10. 1993

    Launched Mt. RAINIER CAFFÈ LATTE (milk-based drink in a cup)

    Left: Product at the time of its launch
    Right: Product sold today

    Received designation of Japan's first FOSHU (Food for Specified Health Uses) for Morinaga L.P.K. formula, a low phosphorous powdered milk, from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

  11. 1996

    Morinaga Aloe Yogurt won gold prize at SIAL (the 1996 Paris International Food Exhibition)

    Left: Product at the time of its launch
    Right: Product sold today

    Received designation of FOSHU for Bifidus Yogurt, the first to contain live bifidus

2001～

  1. 2001

    Received designation of FOSHU for Morinaga Caldus Milk, a lactic fermented beverage exclusively for home deliveries

    Left: Product as of 2001
    Right: Product sold today

  2. 2002

    Received the Minister's Award of Excellence as a Consumer-Oriented Company from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

  3. 2003

    Received the Minister's Award for "development of an industrial manufacturing technique for lactoferrin" from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

  4. 2005

    Launched PARM (ice cream bar)

    Product sold today

  5. 2006

    Kobe plant begins operation

  6. 2008

    Betsukai Plant's new cheese building begins operation

  7. 2010

    Received the Minister's Award for "Development of manufacturing process of tasty protein hydrolysate with low antigenicity" from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

  8. 2011

    Morinaga Milk Industry (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. established

    Launched Greek Yogurt PARTHENO

    Product sold today

    Concluded a technical collaboration agreement with Want Want Group

  9. 2012

    MILEI GmbH became a wholly-owned subsidiary

  10. 2014

    Received a special award from the Rainforest Alliance, an international non-profit environmental organization

    Manufacture of bacteria at Morinaga-Hokuriku Milk Industry Co., Ltd.'s Fukui Plant begins

  11. 2015

    Morinaga Nutritional Foods (Asia Pacific) Pte. Ltd. established in Singapore

  12. 2016

    New factory for MILEI GmbH begins operation

2017

100th anniversary of founding

  1. 2019

    Launched Triple Yogurt

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