is a Japanese food company and the world's largest bread-baking corporation, that makes bread, bakery products and confectionery. It was established by Tojuro Iijima in Japan on 9 March 1948 and started mass production of bread in 1955, and is still controlled by the Iijima family; Nobuhiro Iijima is the third generation of the family to lead the company.

History

Yamazaki products can be found in various

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n countries, including

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Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. In October 1970, the company established a joint venture, Yamazaki Nabisco Co., Ltd. (now known as Yamazaki Biscuits), with

Nabisco Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International. Nabisco's ...

of the United States and Nichimen Jitsugyo Corporation (currently Sojitz Corporation). By 1988 Yamazaki raised its stake in the joint venture to 80% by acquiring the shares held by Nabisco. In 1991, Yamazaki purchased

Vie de France is a Japanese bakery chain owned by Yamazaki Baking. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. Its United States division is headquartered in the Tysons Corner CDP of unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States,

Bakery division (began in 1971), and in 1994, Yamazaki Baking purchased the Vie de France Restaurant division (began in 1978). Yamazaki now operates ''Vie de France'' in the United States and Japan under the ''Vie de France'' brand. Until 2014, Yamazaki used

potassium bromate Potassium bromate (KBrO3), is a bromate of potassium and takes the form of white crystals or powder. It is a strong oxidizing agent. It is a toxic and carcinogenic compound. Preparation Potassium bromate is produced when bromine is passed throug ...

in their bread, while all other Japanese baking companies voluntarily stopped using it in 1980 due to suspicions of

carcinogen A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that promotes carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer). This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes. Several radioactive substan ...

icity. However, they started to use it again in early 2020, claiming they had developed a new method for reducing the amount of potassium bromate so that nothing remains of it in the final product. They stated potassium bromate was not detected in a test with 0.5 ppb accuracy. In 2016, Yamazaki acquired the US company Bakewise Brands, parent of Fleischer's Bagels and Tom Cat Bakery. In the same year,

Mondelez International Mondelez International, Inc. ( ), often styled Mondelēz, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, holding and drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an ...

terminated the Yamazaki Nabisco joint venture and started to produce Nabisco biscuits under Mondelez Japan, shifting production to China and Indonesia. A year later, Yamazaki introduced their version of Oreo called "Noir", which is produced at the former Oreo factory in

Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...

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Yamazaki Baking Co., Ltd.

Yamazaki Baking Co., Ltd.
Japanese companies established in 1948 Companies listed on the Osaka Exchange Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Food and drink companies established in 1948 Food and drink companies based in Tokyo Manufacturing companies based in Tokyo Snack food manufacturers of Japan {{japan-company-stub

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