A leading Japanese frozen food maker Nichirei said last week that from March 2003 it will launch a series of frozen foods that do not contain artificial preservatives.
A Kyodo news report writes that, according to the frozen food giant, the 24 products in the Good for Lunch Box series will mark the first time that additive-free frozen food has been marketed in Japan.
Koji Fukuda, senior managing executive officer at Nichirei told a news conference: "We've developed those new products because we received strong requests from consumers about minimising additives."
The new 24 types of frozen foods will include popular Japanese dishes such as fried chicken and atsuyaki tamago, a fried egg meal, the company said.