Terms of Use

Information we collect and how we use it

We offer a number of services that do not require you to register for an account or provide any personal information to us. In order to provide our full range of services, we may collect the following types of information:

a. Information you provide – When you sign up for a Web Site Account or other Ajinomoto service or promotion that requires registration, we ask you for personal information (such as your name, email address and an account password). We may combine the information you submit under your account with information from other Ajinomoto services or third parties in order to provide you with a better experience and to improve the quality of our services. For certain services, we may give you the opportunity to opt out of combining such information.

b. Ajinomoto cookies – When you visit Ajinomoto, we may send one or more cookies – a small file containing a string of characters – to your computer that uniquely identifies your browser. We use cookies to improve the quality of our service by storing user preferences and tracking user trends, such as how people search. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some Ajinomoto features and services may not function properly if your cookies are disabled.

c. Log information – When you use Ajinomoto services, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website. These server logs may include information such as your web request, Internet Protocol address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.

d. User communications – When you send email or other communication to Ajinomoto, we may retain those communications in order to process your inquiries, respond to your requests and improve our services.

e. Links – Ajinomoto may present links in a format that enables us to keep track of whether these links have been followed. We use this information to improve the quality of our services, customized content and advertising.

Ajinomoto only processes personal information for the purposes described in the applicable Privacy Policy and/or privacy notice for each specific service. In addition to the above, such purposes include:

a. Providing our products and services to users, including the display of customized content and advertising

b. Auditing, research and analysis in order to maintain, protect and improve our services and products offerings

c. Ensuring the technical functioning of our network

d. Developing new services. Ajinomoto processes personal information on our servers in the United States.

Choices for personal information

When you sign up for a particular service that requires registration, we ask you to provide personal information. If we use this information in a manner different than the purpose for which it was collected, then we will ask for your consent prior to such use. If we propose to use personal information for any purposes other than those described in this Policy and/or in the specific service notices, we will offer you an effective way to opt out of the use of personal information for those other purposes. We will not collect or use sensitive information for purposes other than those described in this Policy and/or in the specific service notices, unless we have obtained your prior consent. You can decline to submit personal information to any of our services, in which case Ajinomoto may not be able to provide those services to you.

Information sharing

Ajinomoto only shares personal information with other companies or individuals outside of Ajinomoto in the following limited circumstances:

a. We have your consent. We require opt-in consent for the sharing of any sensitive personal information

b. We provide such information to our subsidiaries, affiliated companies or other trusted businesses or persons for the purpose of processing personal information on our behalf. We require that these parties agree to process such information based on our instructions and in compliance with this Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures

c. We have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request, (b) enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations thereof, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, or (d) protect against imminent harm to the rights, property or safety of Ajinomoto, its users or the public as required or permitted by law if Ajinomoto becomes involved in a merger, acquisition, or any form of sale of some or all of its assets, we will provide notice before personal information is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy. We may share with third parties certain pieces of aggregated, non-personal information, such as the number of users who searched for a particular term, for example, or how many users clicked on a particular advertisement. Such information does not identify you individually.

Information security

We take appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. We restrict access to personal information to Ajinomoto employees, contractors and agents who need to know that information in order to operate, develop or improve our services. These individuals are bound by confidentiality obligations and may be subject to discipline, including termination and criminal prosecution, if they fail to meet these obligations.

Data integrity

Ajinomoto processes personal information only for the purposes for which it was collected and in accordance with this Policy or any applicable service-specific privacy notice. We review our data collection, storage and processing practices to ensure that we only collect, store and process the personal information needed to provide or improve our services. We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we process is accurate, complete, and current, but we depend on our users to update or correct their personal information whenever necessary.

Accessing and updating personal information

When you use Ajinomoto services, we make good faith efforts to provide you with access to your personal information and either to correct this data if it is inaccurate or to delete such data at your request if it is not otherwise required to be retained by law or for legitimate business purposes. We ask individual users to identify themselves and the information requested to be accessed, corrected or removed before processing such requests, and we may decline to process requests that are unreasonably repetitive or systematic, require disproportionate technical effort, jeopardize the privacy of others, or for which access is not otherwise required.

Enforcement

Please feel free to direct any questions or concerns regarding this Policy or Ajinomoto’s treatment of personal information by contacting us through this web site. When we receive formal written complaints at this address, Ajinomoto’s will contact the complaining user regarding his or her concerns. We will cooperate with the appropriate regulatory authorities, including local data protection authorities, to resolve any complaints regarding the transfer of personal data that cannot be resolved between Ajinomoto and an individual.

Changes to this policy

Please note that this Privacy Policy may change from time to time. We will post any Policy changes on this page and, if the changes are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice (including, for certain services, email notification of Policy changes). If you have any additional questions or concerns about this Policy, please feel free to contact us any time through this web site.