2020/12/01/

Morita Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd, based in Osaka, Japan (President & CEO: Toyoshige Morita), is a pioneering company that succeeded in the
development of natural stevia sweeteners for the first time in the world back in 1971. “Rebaudioside A”, which is currently used in food
and drink products worldwide, is also the result of the Morita variety breeding efforts.

In order to meet the diversifying market needs, Ajinomoto Co., Inc. has now entered the stevia sweetener market under the
“AJISWEET™” brand and has signed a contract with Morita for the supply of the raw material. Ajinomoto will first launch “AJISWEET™ RA”
in the United States of America on November 30, 2020, and plans to gradually expand its sales area to Canada, Mexico, Europe and
Latin America.

Ajinomoto has a track record of selling high-intensity sweeteners such as aspartame worldwide; however, as the plant-derived stevia is a new ingredient, after careful selection of raw material suppliers, the partnership with Morita, which has established a position in the industry as
“Stevia’s Morita”, was decided.

 Focusing mainly on high-purity Rebaudioside A products, Morita will be fully responsible for supplying the stevia raw material for the
“AJISWEET™” brand, manufacturing at the Niimi plant (Okayama prefecture) products that make the most of Morita’s many years
of know-how and refining technology and the good quality of Japan.

In addition, new sweet components, such as “Rebaudioside M”, which has been receiving attention all over the world, are contained in the
leaves of stevia varieties developed by Morita. Morita has already been granted patents for 10 such molecules in Japan, the United States,
Europe, South Korea, Malaysia etc., and in the future plans to globally launch products containing these new sweet components.

In anticipation of an increasing need for low-calorie sweeteners driven by the recent health-conscious boom, Morita will continue to focus
on improving the taste of stevia sweeteners, and taking the opportunity of the partnership with Ajinomoto, aim to pursue better
taste and a further leap into the world.