Below is an outline of Nichirei's development from its inception to the present day. In a special section, we explain Nichirei's history as well as the history of Japanese food.
The company was founded on December 24, 1942, as Teikoku Marine Products Control Company, with capital participation (totaling 50,000 thousand yen) from 18 fishery and other companies. It was established in accordance with the Fisheries Control Ordinance that was enacted on May 19, 1942, as a central agency to control seafood-related businesses such as sales of ocean-netted marine products, ice production, and refrigerated storage. On December 1, 1945, the day after the control ordinance was abolished (November 30, 1945), the company was reorganized as a privately held company governed by the commercial code, and was renamed Nippon Reizo Co. Ltd.
- December 1942
- Founding of Teikoku Marine Products Control Co.
- April 1943
- Start of marine products purchasing and sales, ice production, refrigeration and freezing businesses
- December 1945
- Name change to Nippon Reizo Co. Ltd.
- March 1946
- Establishment of food products sales subsidiary
- December 1948
- Addition of new businesses to corporate profile: manufacture, sales, import and export of canned goods, fertilizers, animal feed, and fats, along with import and export of marine products
- May 1949
- Listing of shares on the Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya stock exchanges (delisted from Nagoya in June 2003)
- August 1951
- Establishment of canned goods factory; start of food processing business
- October 1952
- Beginning of sales of prepared frozen foods
- May 1956
- Launch of meat and poultry business
- March 1977
- Establishment of transportation and logistics subsidiary(currently a consolidated subsidiary called Logistics Network)
- January 1979
- Establishment of US subsidiary to collect shipments and sell agricultural, marine, and meats and poultry products (continued today as consolidated subsidiaries Nichirei Seafoods, Inc. and Nichirei Foods U.S.A., Inc.)
- June 1982
- Entry into biosciences field
- April 1984
- Addition of new businesses to corporate profile: manufacture and sale of pharmaceuticals, quasi-drugs and reagents, and production and sales of seeds and seedlings
- February 1985
- Name changed to Nichirei Corporation
- April 1988
- Start of full-fledged sales of acerola beverages
- September 1988
- Acquisition of Dutch refrigeration company and expansion into refrigerated storage business in the Netherlands (currently consolidated subsidiary Eurofrigo B.V. )
- December 1988
- Completion of the Nichirei Akashi-cho Building and full-fledged start of office leasing business
- April 1989
- Introduction of diabetic meal sets approved by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as "Foods for Specified Health Uses"
- April 1990
- Full-fledged start of logistics business
- February 1991
- Completion of Nichirei Higashi-Ginza Building; transfer of head office to the new building two months later
- March 1997
- Establishment of research and development facility; consolidation of research and development functions
- April 1998
- Entry into third-party logistics business (established consolidated subsidiary Logistics Planner Inc. in November 2000)
- September 1999
- Acquisition of ISO (International Standards Organization) 9002 certification for Kanto regional low-temperature logistics branch and Nichirei Iruma Service Center (as of March 31, 2007, 20 Nichirei Group organizations operating 104 locations had received ISO 9001 certification)
- March 2000
- Acquisition of ISO 14001 certification for Chiba Chikusan Kogyo Co., Ltd. (as of March 31, 2007, seven Nichirei Group organizations operating 10 locations had received ISO 14001 certification)
- June 2000
- Addition of new businesses to corporate profile: hotel and Japanese-style inn operation
- April 2001
- Establishment of financial services and accounting subsidiary (currently a consolidated subsidiary called Nichirei Proserve Inc.)
- January 2003
- Spin-off of information systems division; joint establishment with Hitachi Ltd. of affiliate providing information processing services on outsourcing basis
- April 2004
- Spin-off of domestic logistics business into one company handling logistics networking business and seven companies handling regional storage business
- February 2005
- Acquisition of ISO 13485 certification by biosciences division (as of March 31, 2007, one Nichirei Group organization operating two locations had received ISO 13485 certification)
- April 2005
- Transition to holding company system, with Nichirei Corp. the holding company for independent business units handling processed foods, marine products, meat and poultry products, logistics, biosciences, and business support services
- November 2005
- Establishment of joint venture with the Nisshin Seifun Group in China's Shandong Province; the new affiliate, Jinzhu (Yantai) Foodstuff Research Development Co., Ltd., began operation in October 2006
