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16th March 2020
Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd.
NTT Docomo Inc.
Food Diversity Inc.
Around 2,900 “Seven Premium” Products can be Detected Automatically Through “Automatic Food Detection System” For Muslims and Vegans
〜Demonstration will be Launched at 6 Ito-Yokado stores in Tokyo, Starting from 16th of March 2020 (Mon)〜
Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd. (“Seven & i”), NTT Docomo Inc. (”Docomo”), and Food Diversity Inc. (“Food Diversity”) launch the demonstration of a food detection system for Muslims and Vegans at 6 Ito-Yokado stores in Tokyo starts from 16th of March 2020 (Mon). By using a specific application (app), which requires customers to take photos of product shelves inside the store with their smartphones to know whether the products are eligible for Muslims and Vegans to consume.
For instance, if the product is Muslim / Vegan-Friendly, the products on the shelf will be framed in blue, while the products which are not are framed in black or gray.
You can detect as many as 2,900 products from the private brands from Seven & i Group, “Seven Premium”.
How to Detect The Products With The App
Over these several years, there are expanding numbers of visitors from Southeast Asian countries, which many of the populations are Muslims, to come to Japan.※１. On top of that, there are more visitors with dietary restrictions such as Vegans and others coming to Japan as well. In this case, those with dietary restrictions need to do search and translate the ingredients of the products, which is mostly in Japanese, using the translating app with their smartphones every time before purchasing a product.
To support a better condition, Docomo and Food Diversity have been developing the “Food Detection System” since September 2018 and went through several testing to let customers with dietary restrictions know their deciding factors of the products such as ingredients information of the products. This time, we developed the “Food Detection System” by combining the information of the ingredients and package designs of Seven Premium products. This is actually the very first trial for collaborative demonstration with a retail company for the better shopping experience for those who are Muslims and Vegans.
The “Food Detection System” can be used on a restaurant search app for Muslims and Vegetarians “HALAL GOURMET JAPAN” developed by Food Diversity. You can use this app for free during the demonstration period until the 31st of May 2020 (Sun). “Food Detection System” is using the “Recognition Engine for Image of Food on the Shelf”※２ developed by Docomo.
※1 Japan Tourism Agency “Action Plan for Muslim visitors to Japan ”
https://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/kanko_vision/kankotf_dai20/s5-1.pdf
※2 “Recognition Engine for Image of Food on the shelf ” is an Image Recognition Engine, a part of AI technologies AI NTT Group, corevo® has offered.
＊「corevo」 is a registered trademark by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation.
Contact us
・Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd
PR Department
・NTT Docomo Inc.
Department of Social Service
TEL : 03-5156-2512
・Food Diversity Inc.
info@food-diversity.co.jp
Demonstration Overview
Demonstration Period
March 16th, 2020 (Mon)〜 May 31st, 2020 (Sun)
Location
Ito-Yokado stores in Tokyo (6 stores)
(Omori, Oimachi, Ario Kitasuna, Hikifune, Minowa, Shinjuku Tomohisa）
https://www.itoyokado.co.jp/special/global/en/
Contents
We offer the service using the specific app to detect products on the food shelves inside the store to let Muslim or Vegan customers understand which products are eligible.
In addition, we are going to do research regarding the kind of products in the store that customers with dietary restrictions pay more attention to, to improve the service in the future.
Around 2,900 Seven Premium products are being targeted in this demonstration.
Collaborating Companies and Role
Seven & i : Offering the food information, location for food detection demonstration of the products.
Docomo : Food Detection System
Food Diversity : App
“Food Detection System” Overview
“Food Detection System” can be used in the meal information app for Muslims and Vegetarians called “HALAL GOURMET JAPAN” which is offered by Food Diversity.
Usage Environment of using this app
Smartphone, tablet.
※ Android OS 4.0 or more, iOS 8.0 or more
Usage Fee
For free
Usage images of “Food Detection System”
For an easy understanding, products on the shelf will be color-framed, and the color is different depends on the result of the detection.
【Muslim Friendly Product】→ Pink
【Vegan Friendly Product】→ Yellow
【Muslim & Vegan-Friendly Products】→ Blue
【Products Detected as Not for Muslim and Vegan】→ Black or Gray
【Unrecognized or Unregistered Products】→White
Since the judgment criteria in purchasing products are different depends on each customer, the app assumes the usage of letting customers know the information of the products and let them have their own decisions whether they do a purchase or not.
How to Use The App
Precautions in Taking a Photo
Depends on the conditions or environment, there might be possibilities that the app failed in detecting (framed in white) the product even though it succeeded before. In that case, please refers to the sucessfully detected result, not the result detected as unrecognized or unregistered.
Features of Image Recognition Engine Using AI Technology by Docomo
Image Recognition Engine using AI technology by Docomo has two main technologies offers. One of them is “Object Detection”, which detects the location of individual images in the picture. The other is “Specific Object Recognition”, which combines the information of “Object Detection” and its image database, then specify the detected image with its data and recognizes the image with information.
“Food Detection System” for Muslims and Vegetarians is part of “Top GunＴＭ” activities that tackle the issues that cause trouble.
＊ “Top Gun” is a trademark of NTT Docomo Inc.
Overview of “HALAL GOURMET JAPAN” App
Features of Halal Gourmet Japan
HALAL GOURMET JAPAN is a largest smartphone app in Japan that offers restaurant information for Muslims and Vegans.
Through this app, users can get restaurant information that matches their needs.
・Largest restaurant information for Muslims in Japan with more than 800 restaurants.
・Restaurant information for Vegetarians.
・Restaurants are classified with specific information, such as “Restaurant with Halal Certificate” etc.
Basic Functions
Restaurant search
・Search the restaurant using a map
You can search restaurants with menus for Muslims and Vegetarians through a map.
・Search the restaurant with specific pictograms
You can search the restaurant with combinations of pictograms such as “Halal Certificate” or “Pork-free restaurant” etc.
・Category search
You can search for a restaurant from categories such as “Ramen” “Indian” “Turkish” etc.
・Search from location (city, prefecture)
・Search with the name of a restaurant.
■HALAL GOURMET JAPAN Website
https://www.halalgourmet.jp/ja
■Web Food Diversity Website
https://fooddiversity.today/
You can download HALAL GOURMET JAPAN app through QR code or link below.
For Android and iOS
* iOS is a trademark or registered trademark of Cisco US and other countries and is used based on its license.
* Android is a trademark or registered trademark of Google LLC.
