Establishment of a Traceability System
Raw Materials for Crude Drug Traceability System
To ensure the quality of Kampo products, Tsumura has established a traceable system to
impose control from the earliest stages of cultivation and harvesting of the original
plants, and to trace these plants to their batch, source, and growing locations.
Tsumura's Raw Materials for Crude Drug Traceability System is able to monitor and
control each step from cultivation, harvesting, processing, distribution, and storage by
batches, and also to correlate this information with the incoming crude drugs.
The manufacturing processes, delivery, and distribution are systematized schemas.
Tsumura also aims to systematize its traceability schema, from cultivation to
distribution, to strengthen the provision of safe and premium quality products.
From Cultivation of Raw Materials for Crude Drug to Production
Nearly 80% of raw materials for crude drug are imported from China. Those that are
cultivated by Chinese farmers are collected by a local company and delivered to Shenzhen
Tsumura Medicine Co., Ltd. directly or via an affiliate Chinese company. Shenzhen
Tsumura procures, screens, checks for quality, and stores all raw materials for crude
drug indigenous to China, while at the same time conducts quality tests and testing of
residual pesticides, heavy metals, and other harmful substances. Those with assured
quality are subsequently transported to the Ibaraki and Shizuoka plants from the
Shanghai Tsumura Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. in China and the Ishioka Processing & Quality
Control Center in Japan.
In Japan, a group of contract growers at five major locations, including Japan
Agricultural Cooperatives or JA Hokkaido, delivers crude drugs direct to the Ishioka
Processing & Quality Control Center, where the crude drugs from Japan, South Korea, and
other countries are screened, processed, stored, and checked for quality before they are
delivered to the Ibaraki and Shizuoka plants.
Tsumura's Kampo extract granules for prescription are manufactured at the Ibaraki and
Shizuoka Plants. Shanghai Tsumura Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. is a Chinese production
plant equipped with the same facilities as the Japanese plants. It specializes in
reliably manufacturing and exporting extract powders, an interim product, to Japanese
plants.
In 2009, Yubari Tsumura Co., Ltd. was established in Hokkaido and Lao Tsumura Co. Ltd
was established in Laos to meet the growing demand for Kampo products and to improve
Tsumura's traceability system.