Chick-can: Japan’s Hotei Foods develops boiled and fried canned chicken

According to the company, it is a bite-sized salad chicken made of breast meat, without oil and food additives.

The company is no stranger to canned food, having launched its canned grilled chicken (Yakitori) in 1970, which remains the best-seller.

Takuma Mizuno, who is part of the product planning section at Hotei Foods Corporation, told FoodNavigator-Asia​ that the company saw a need to develop healthier foods, “for the ageing society and increasing health-consciousness in people.”​

“So, we released canned salad chicken this time​ made of boiled chicken with simple salty taste and no additives,​” he said.

It was launched nationwide earlier this month, at a retail price of JPY150 (excluding tax).

According to Takuma, the canned chicken can be consumed straight out of the can, or heated up in a microwave.

The canned boiled chicken is subjected to high heat during the sterilisation process, and has a shelf life of 36 months. The manufacturing method was patented in Japan.

According to the Japan Canners Association, canned products are sealed in a container by removing air as much as possible and sterilised by heating in a vacuum, to preserve vitamins and other nutrients.

This way, it can be stored for a long time without decaying, and regardless of the location and season, it can be used anytime, anywhere, as well as during a disaster – making it an idea product for emergency rations.

Canned fried chicken​

In February this year, Hotei Foods also released three types of fried chicken in canned form.

The three flavours are the Karaage Japanese soy sauce, Karaage Umami spicy, and Karaage Teriyaki mayo.

Takuma said sales in March 2019, “totalled approximately 300,000 cans for the three kinds of items​.”

They are sold at Japanese convenience stores, supermarkets, drug stores, and Amazon Japan for JPY200 (excluding tax).

He said shelf life of canned fried chicken products are 24 months from manufacture.

Future in a can​

Takuma said: “With the spread of social networking service, there is an increasing tendency to sell products with topicality and characteristics​.”

Furthermore, he added that Japanese people are conservative about taste.

He suggested that apart from fried and boiled chicken “It would be nice to be able to enjoy various deep-fried dishes any time, such as tempura and tonkatsu [in canned forms]​.”