Snow Brand's Unethical Practices at Japan

The origins of Snow Brand can be traced back to May 1925, when a farmers' cooperative was formed in Hokkaido Prefecture,3 Japan. The cooperative was set up to help farmers in Hokkaidomarket their dairy products.The cooperative began to produce butter in December 1926, and ice-cream in June 1928. It also started using the trademark 'Snow Brand' in June 1928, to sell its products. The cooperative began to produce cheese and margarine in August 1933 and 1939, respectively.

In June 1950, Snow Brand was incorporated and in December the same year it incorporated Hokkaido Butter Co. as a subsidiary. In November 1953, it established Snow Brand Seed Co. Ltd. to run its farm feed business, which produced pasture, feed crop seeds and seedlings. In March 1955, Snow Brand Food was incorporated in the city of Sapporo. Snow Brand Food controlled the meat processing, canned and bottled foods units.