our ingredients

We are a crusading, full-steam ahead, fast-restaurant & grocery company, creating quality East Asian goodness. The itsu menu is health[ier], it’s exciting, modern and only occasionally indulgent.

We have a dedicated sourcing team that travel across the world to find the most nutritious, vibrant and sustainable ingredients possible.

our kitchen [& yours]

We’ve been doing our best to avoid & eradicate food additives. Fortunately, we’ve made good headway because every itsu has its own kitchen. Wherever possible we use the same ingredients you have at home.

Ultra-processed ingredients [UPIs], and many strange sounding chemicals found in food nowadays are thought to be bad for our health, at the very least they mess with our digestive system and apparently our brains. Chemicals are used to enhance the look, taste and texture of food, extend shelf life and often reduce costs.

There are, in truth, hundreds of additives available which manufacturers add to food, some are worse than others; long-life ready meals commonly deploy up to 30 examples.

our commitments

This year, 2024, we defined what ingredients are acceptable and unacceptable when creating itsu recipes, and why.

Our food teams, technologists and nutritionists worked together to grade processed ingredients which go into itsu dishes [both restaurant and grocery] into 4 categories: acceptable, banned, remove by June 2025, and work to eradicate.

Our restaurants sell some non-itsu branded drinks and snacks e.g. sriracha sauce, aloe water and coke - we don’t have control over their recipes, so we haven’t included them below.

acceptable

acids found in nature [ascorbic, citric, lactic, malic] used to prevent the growth of bacteria, food has been preserved using acid for longer than recorded history.

anti-oxidants which naturally occur, like vitamin C [ascorbic acid] and the vitamin E family found in nuts, sunflower seeds and soy [tocopherols].

natural colours and flavours [beetroot powder, chlorophyll , spirulina powder, paprika extract, plain caramel, vanilla extract] used to enrich colour and flavours.

natural setting agents [apple pectin, agar, carrageenan] pectin is a soluble fibre found in all fruits, used to improve texture for example set jam

natural starches [e.g. corn, maize, potato, tapioca] used to thicken sauces & make dough.

plant stabilisers - [guar, locus bean, xanthan] derived from plants, used to thicken and maintain textures of sauces & marinades.

raising agents [baking powder and bicarbonate of soda] kitchen cupboard ingredients used when baking e.g sodium carbonates & calcium phosphates. We use them to make our bao buns fluffy and tempura batter crispy.

salt [e.g. rock, sea, table] used to enhance flavour / extend shelf life.

soya lecithin extracted from soybeans, used to prevent sauces separating, found in the majority of chocolate bars.

sugar [e.g. brown, demerara, white] used to sweeten.

vinegars [rice, wine] used to pickle, give flavour or increase acidity

yeast extract used to enhance flavour and provide umami, a natural ingredient made from bakers' or brewers' yeast that has been used for centuries for fermenting bread, wine and beer.

banned

artificial colours: allura red, brilliant blue FCF, carmoisine, ponceau 4R, quinoline yellow, sunset yellow FCF, tartrazine. We are removing the caramel colour from our teriyaki sachet at which point we won’t use any artificial colours in our dishes.

artificial emulsifiers & stabilisers: ammonium sulphate, aluminium sulphate, brominated vegetable oil. We are committed to replacing modified starches with native starches. We are also changing our veggie ball and suriri recipes. At this point soya lecithin and malto/dextrin will be the only artificial emulsifiers and stabilisers we use.

artificial flavour enhancers: disodium guamylate, disodium 5- ribonnucleotides, ethyl maltolx, inosinates. We will have removed MSG from Kewpie mayo by the end of 2024 – at which point none of our dishes will contain artificial flavour enhancers.

artificial sweeteners: advantame, cylamic acid, neohesperidine DC, isomalt, neotame. By June 2025 none of our dishes will contain artificial sweeteners except for our grocery restaurant’ramen noodles which require a drop of sorbitol to stop them from sticking together [we’re working on an alternative].

artificial preservatives: sodium benzoate, tert-Butylhydroquione (TBHQ) butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytolune (BHT)

Potassium sorbate will be the only artificial preservative we use – it is a replica of a natural occurring chemical which has been used for hundreds of years to prevent the growth of mould & yeast.

remove by June 2025

acesulmafe K, aspartame, saccharin, sorbitol [artificial sweeteners]. Our pickled ginger currently contains 4 artificial sweeteners, they will be eradicated by the end of 2024. Saccharin will be removed from the relish in our restaurant katsu by July 2024. Sorbitol will be removed from our restaurant surimi and our wasabi sachet by 2025. We hope to have a solution for the sorbitol in our ramen’noodles as soon as possible.

carboxymethylcellulose [CMC] will be removed from our veggie'balls by June 2025

gluconolactone – naturally occurring (made from corn) but not necessary [in our opinion]. To be removed from silken tofu in our restaurants.

di-phsophates, tri-phoshpates and polyphosphates will be removed from surimi by June 2025

modified starch [maize, corn, tapioca] [used to thicken and/or preserve] will be removed from wasabi sachets, sesame dressing, spicy sauce, wasabi peas and nori maki crunch in our restaurant dishes, as well as hoisin duck bao and crispy chicken sauce grocery recipes.

MSG [an artificial flavour enhancer]. Our prawn nigiri and crab maki recipes have a dot of our authentic kewpie Japanese mayonnaise which has a tiny amount of MSG, we are looking to remove this by the end of 2024.

work to eradicate

corn syrups, glucose syrups and sucralose made from naturally derived sources, used as a sweetener

We are evaluating the evolving research-based evidence on different natural sugar syrups and sugars. Wherever possible we’re working on reducing sugars.

dextrin/maltodextrin – carbohydrate made from starches such as corn, wheat & potatoes which helps bind ingredients together

similarly to glucose syrups above, we are evaluating maltodextrin and dextrin [currently in 25 of our 100s of dishes]. We will continue to explore the advantages of alternatives.

Little Moons™ mochi contain maltodextrin, glucose syrup and mono and diglycerides of fatty acids amongst other ultra processed ingredients. We are working on natural solutions.

nitrite & sodium ascorbate – found in the oven baked bacon sold in a handful of our restaurants that serve breakfast, we will keep looking for a viable alternative that doesn’t include these.

potassium sorbate – the only artificial preservative you’ll find in itsu. A replica of the equivalent naturally occurring chemical, used as a preservative (e.g. to prevent bacteria and mould growth) in our wasabi dressing, spicy sauce, pickled ginger, siracha, ginger sachets and peach and cucumber zen’waters.

salmon

Every morning your local fish’pro takes delivery of fresh sashimi-grade salmon fillets [on ice]. They then slice exactly 9 grams of salmon for nigiri, 15 grams for sashimi and the size of a 5p piece for salmon maki rolls. itsu salmon comes from Scotland and the crystal-clear waters of the Norwegian Fjords. We work with one of the world’s leading seafood companies - ranked #1 on sustainability [Coller FAIRR].

prawns

After years of searching for the perfect prawns, we’ve finally landed on 5XL ebi jumbo sushi prawns. They are the biggest on the market, and are sustainably farmed, with visibility from farm to fish'pro. For itsu [grocery], We will only use sustainable and responsibly sourced prawns in our products.

UK's no.1 gyoza

Our signature gourmet chicken gyoza, affectionately known as 'chicken gyoza no.74' [the 73 recipes that came before it were delicious, but it took 74 versions to crack it] as well as delicious noodles, fresh greens & our brilliant'broth.

chicken

The chicken in our salads, rice & noodle dishes is sourced from independently assured British farms and for us, Red Tractor Assurance is a minimum standard.

We’re also committed to working towards even higher welfare standards by signing up to the Better Chicken Commitment in all itsu restaurants as well as across our supermarket products. Despite a number of global challenges over the last two years, we are committed to meeting this promise by 2026. We are working very closely with our suppliers and we have made significant progress towards meeting our goal.

All the chicken used across our [grocery] products is reared inline with EU legislation. Our focus for 2024 is on achieving the stocking density requirements of the Better Chicken Commitment on our journey towards achieving full compliance by 2026.

better chicken commitment

chicken big'bao

itsu chicken big'bao won an esteemed Great Taste Award in 2022. As part of itsu's quality control process, our technical department have worked closely with our partners in Shandong, making sure that they operate to the highest possible standards of quality. Their purpose built, state of the art bao production facility [which we like to call our “bao kitchen”] recently received an A+ grade in its latest BRCGS audit, which means that they always operate to exceptionally high standards.

For more on itsu's chicken welfare commitments, see here.

rice

Our brown wholegrain [hot] rice is grown and milled in Spain. It is carefully selected and scrutinised for its delicious nutty texture and high fibre content. Our premium sushi rice is checked, washed and cooked to perfection under the watchful eyes of our highly skilled rice’pros.

14 different vegetables

A blend of 14 different greens, herbs and aromatics all packed full of nutrition. Always British and adjusted seasonally for maximum quality throughout the year.

petit pois

Our Belgian suppliers collect rain water that falls on their factory roof then treat and use to clean the factories & fill condensers. Next purified and pumped into an irrigation network supplying local growers to water their vegetable crops. The majority remains in the wetlands providing habitat for over 200 species of birds.

nori

Sourced direct from South East Asia adding a subtle, unmistakably Asian flavour, nori is used in many of our most-popular dishes. Incredibly nutrient-rich and a source of vitamin B12, protein and iodine.

green beans & avo

Our green beans are steamed [never fried] every day in each of our shops to lock in flavour and nutrients. For avocados, we use the highest quality Haas variety and only accept perfectly ripe fruits for our delicious salads and maki.

soy sauce

Brewed for us in Japan by Toshio and his family, he follows the ancient proverb of ‘onko-chishin’, which means ‘to move ahead by learning from the past’ his recipe has changed very little in over 2000 years.

At itsu we are aware of the accelerating concerns surrounding the production of soy and the impacts on the environment, particularly the conversion of natural habitats resulting in deforestation. In response to this we have ensured that all of our soy based primary ingredients from high-risk areas is certified as being produced in deforestation and conversion free zones. This includes soy from Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and other South American countries.

miso broth

Our miso broths are made using authentic paste, never powder. Japan’s food entrepreneur Yoshihiro Hayashi cooks the miso with herbs and spices in the stunning Nagano valley.

teriyaki

We use mirin rice wine in our incredibly popular teriyaki dressing for sweetness and depth and, unlike many other teriyaki sauces, we add fresh ginger for warmth and complexity of finish.

palm oil

We will not actively avoid or remove palm oil from our products as we recognise the yield benefits and efficiency of palm oil production in comparison to other oils. We commit to only use palm oil that is certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil [RSPO] in our products going forward.

cocoa

We recognise the environmental and social impact that cocoa production has. 100% of cocoa and cocoa derived ingredients in itsu [grocery] products are sustainably sourced and certified by Rainforest Alliance.