Professor Masatoshi Ozaki, who is in charge of Global Food Business Program, is working to support agricultural and fishing producers in creating value-added products and services through product development and manufacturing procedure construction. In 2023, as part of overseas expansion, he began disseminating lychee processing technology in Vietnam.
During the lychee harvest season in the country from June to September, temperatures can exceed 35 degrees in the morning, and refrigeration systems like those in Japan are not in place in rural areas. As a result, lychees cannot be preserved after harvesting, and many of them end up being discarded unused.
Professor Ozaki was consulted by a local lychee producers' association about whether these unused lychees could be utilized and commercialized, and he traveled to Vietnam from June 4th (Sun) to 8th (Thu), 2023 to conduct research. He proposed a juicing method that can be operated locally and a system for properly storing the juice so that it can be sold year-round.
At KSU VISION DAY 2023, held at our university on Thursday, November 2nd and Friday, November 3rd (national holiday), we conducted a tasting of lychee juice actually squeezed in Vietnam. On the day of the event, the booth was crowded with many visitors who came to see and hear panels summarizing local efforts and various GFBP initiatives.
[Global Food Business Program]
