Does the Yamasa Corporation contain mRNA in its soy sauce? No, it does not: there is no mRNA in Yamasa soy sauce.
The claim appeared on a TikTok video (archived here) on May 1st, 2023. The video, with the sound effect of an emergency alarm, shows an article from The Chemical Daily which reads:
Yamasa Soy Sauce Increases Production of mRNA-Modified Nucleic Acid, New Line at Choshi Factory Expected by the End of the Year
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed May 17 13:13:45 2023 UTC)
The article is true but the video intentionally or not knowingly made many people believe that there is mRNA in Yamasa Soy Sauce. As of May 17th, 2023, there are 99 comments and most of them say they will no longer buy soy sauce from Yamasa.
One of the main reasons people misunderstood the article was the emergency sound effect in the TikTok video. The sound made people think something was wrong with the article. Secondly, most people know Yamasa Corporation as a producer of soy sauce. In English, the company name is Yamasa Corporation, but in Japanese, the direct translation of the company name is Yamasa Shoyu (soy sauce) Corporation.
On October 12th, 2021, Yamasa Corporation released a Press Release regarding the news about the supply of raw materials for the new coronavirus vaccine in our pharmaceutical and chemical products division
Yamasa Corporation operates in many fields besides soy sauce production. It produces various seasonings and also manufactures pharmaceuticals. Yamasa Corporation has Biochemicals Division that makes Pseudouridine, a raw material for mRNA synthesis.
The article on Yamasa's pseudouridine is posted in the English version of the whitepaper published by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.
National Library of Medicine has an article, "The Presence of pseudouridine in the anticodons alters..., ...as asparagine in echinoderm" in 1999 Oxford University Press. In the article Yamasa Corporation's name was mentioned as one of the suppliers for the materials (Nuclease P1) used in the research (page 2 under MATERIALS AND METHODS.)
Yamasa is a leading company of nucleic acid-related compounds for over 60 years. Yamasa Corporation makes soy sauce and also makes mRNA materials, but mRNA is NOT in its soy sauce.
