‘ECO-FRIENDLY’ BONITO FLAKES DEBUT IN JAPANESE RESTAURANTS

A Japanese restaurant chain has started using dried bonito flakes certified as caught and processed in an eco-friendly way to maintain both the country's culinary culture and fishery resources, Kyodo News reported.

Kijima Co. based in Yokohama near Tokyo on June 8 began serving at all of its six restaurants dishes using special bonito flakes, which are a key ingredient in "washoku" traditional Japanese cuisine.

The product is made by Yamaki Co., which obtained the certification from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), a London-based nonprofit organization, in 2019 for its practice of avoiding overfishing and good management of its supply chain.

"This is an important step forward to show that caring about sustainability is compatible with running businesses," said Hiroaki Kijima, director of the business strategy office at the restaurant operator, in an online press conference.

Washoku, or traditional Japanese cuisine, was added to the list of UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013.

With the global consumption of marine products continuing to increase, about 30 percent of the resources were overfished as of 2017, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

Annual bonito catches have also increased to around 3 million tons in recent years, raising concerns over future stocks left in the ocean. Japan accounts for about 10 percent of global bonito consumption, mostly as dried flakes, according to an estimate by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

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