FOSHU (Food for a Specific Health Use) foods and drinks are quite popular these days, and the ever-changing Japanese beverage market is constantly bringing out new offerings to appeal to consumers who want to have some function with their food. Even products with ingredients that may seem unappealing can be easily sold, especially in the name of beauty. Need an example? How about the zero-calorie Placenta 10000 jelly drink?
We first encountered the Placenta 10000 (has 10000 mg of placenta) from Nihon Sofuken at an expo a few weeks ago and had the following conversation with their rep:
Me: This has placenta in it?
Rep: Yes!
Me: From…
Rep: Pigs.
Me: Oh.
Rep: You know how placenta usually smells really bad?
Me: Mmm…I can guess.
Rep: Well, ours doesn’t have any smell at all!
They don’t lie at Nihon Sofuken, because I didn’t taste or smell anything besides peaches, an important factor when selling to young women. For older people and men, the perception is that if a health drink tastes good, it’s not good for you. In fact, an Okinawan health drink maker at the same expo was actually disappointed when I said his product tasted good!
Placenta is said to have regenerative properties, especially concerning beauty, and can help with dieting as well. At about $8 per drink, it’s expensive, but Japanese aren’t exactly known for sacrificing their health and looks for a couple of bucks either.
Of course, if you want to make your own placenta cocktails, the Placenta 400,000 extract (above) might be more to your taste, but I have the feeling that it doesn’t smell much like peaches.
Michael is the Editor of JapanTrends.com and Director of the 
WTF??!!
…
I wonder if they’re going to do a follow-up story on this that involves how popular it is or “problems” that they encountered.
Yummmm! Hey, cats and dogs regularly eat placenta, and look how beautiful many of them are!! Where do I sign up for some?
ummmm. . . . . how long have the japanese been drinking this??? and show me the ones that have… then i’ll decide if i want a sip!
FIRST IN CREAMS NOW IN DRINKS….can’t imagine drinking this!!! we can start now also drinking caviar as a beauty drink..don’t you daaare steal my idea!!!!
I just was watching a tv-show that its called Gal-Ruki. And I came up here in this site cause, one fo the girls (model) was looking at other model-girl fridge, and she had loads of this placenta 10k there. So she took one and drank it as if it was really precious and delicious and was very excited about it. So I was wondering what it was, cause it didnt look like a normal drink, since it came on that sachet shape. Thanks for posting. Nice to know.
Has anyone ever tried drinking this? It seems gross and sounds morbid, but I am dying to know the results.