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The story
On September 17, 2026, Meiji announced it is withdrawing from the frozen food business. Long-selling products like the “3-pack shrimp gratin,” which had tapped into demand shaped by shifting household structures, will end production, and the frozen foods division will now focus on desserts like ice cream. On 5ch, posters reacted with surprise and sadness at no longer being able to buy the gratin and doria dishes they’d loved for years, with some suggesting Maruha Nichiro, Ajinomoto, or Table Mark as replacements. Others vented frustration over the string of discontinuations and spec changes to other products since Meiji Milk Products and Meiji Seika merged, and the discussion widened into a broader debate over the company’s management decisions.
[Breaking] Meiji withdraws from frozen food business — frozen foods division to focus on desserts
2026.09.17
Ending production of long-selling products like the “3-pack shrimp gratin,” which had captured demand shaped by changing household structures
Source: news.nissyoku.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
A 2-pack has too much per portion.
Well yeah, we're in the Reiwa era now (Meiji is also the name of Japan's 1868–1912 imperial era, so this is a pun on the company being 'finished').
Guess it really was just gratin and doria.
I was a loyal customer.
Maruha Nichiro's stuff isn't great.
Guess I'll switch to Ajinomoto.
They're discontinuing the microwave pizza?
My daughter loves it, I keep 3 stocked in the freezer every day
My 'daughter' is a 48-year-old shut-in fatass otaku.
Nothing else has a single portion that's the perfect size for a late-night snack, what am I gonna do now.
Incompetent management, lol what idiots.
Can't even invest in new equipment?
Anyone can do 'nothing.'
Guess they'd quietly narrowed down to almost just gratin and doria.
Though honestly it was more of a shock when Meiji discontinued their granule Chinese soup.
Which other brand should I switch to?
Besides gratin and doria, they used to have pizza too.
Snow Brand Milk Products (as it was called then) also had a frozen food business, but after the food poisoning scandal it was split off and sold (some of the products live on today under Umios).
Now that you mention it, it is small.
Even I, a light eater, don't get full off it.
You're supposed to pair it with pasta or something else, genius.
It was basically just a side hustle for them anyway.
Guess frozen food just doesn't pay.
Discontinuing Karl in eastern Japan.
Pushing high-cacao chocolate while downgrading the cheap stuff to quasi-chocolate.
Shrinking the milk cartons.
That absurdly overpriced Yan Yan dip stick.
I've only ever seen it in the Kansai area though.
Meiji, Snow Brand, and Morinaga all taste kind of like processed milk.
I wanted it as a whole main dish, not a side — not really made for living alone.
Even thawing it out is a hassle, I'd rather just grab
deli food or takeout instead.
Honestly the only frozen thing I buy is ice cream.
They discontinued it a few years back though.
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
Meiji’s frozen food business dates back to the Meiji Milk Products era and once covered gratin, doria, and pizza, but in recent years the lineup had narrowed to almost exclusively gratin and doria. This move isn’t a withdrawal from the “frozen foods business” as a whole — rather, it’s a restructuring in which Meiji is dropping prepared frozen dishes to focus its frozen division on desserts like ice cream, a distinction that’s easy to miss since Meiji’s frozen business itself isn’t disappearing. Thread posters cited changing household structures as context (with some saying the portions are too large for single-person households and others saying they’re too small to be a full meal alone), along with lingering frustration over the string of discontinuations and spec changes since Meiji Milk Products and Meiji Seika merged. Rather than debating whether the withdrawal itself was right, most of the discussion centered on the practical question of “what do I buy instead?” Opinions on the management decision itself were split between two extremes — “incompetent” versus “of course, if it wasn’t profitable” — and the article doesn’t reveal the actual financial details behind the move.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Business News+) thread “Meiji withdraws from frozen food business — frozen foods division to focus on desserts.”
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