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Trans-Ocean Products, Inc. Entering Shrimp Business in United States With Parent Company Maruha Nichiro

BELLINGHAM, WA, March 2, 2009 - Trans-Ocean Products, Inc., producers of the #1 brand of surimi seafood in the United States, has announced the addition of a shrimp product line to its current line up of surimi seafood and smoked salmon products. Trans-Ocean enters the competitive U.S. shrimp market with the substantial strength and support of its parent company, Maruha Nichiro of Tokyo, Japan, one of the world's largest seafood companies with $10 billion in annual sales and a major player in the global shrimp business with $500 million in annual sales. Trans-Ocean will leverage its extensive knowledge of the retail and foodservice markets and its strong customer relationships with Maruha Nichiro's worldwide shrimp procurement and processing capabilities to establish a significant presence in the United States.

Trans-Ocean, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Maruha Nichiro, brings a solid track record for building brands to its first entry into the shrimp business. In 1997, Trans-Ocean introduced its Crab Classic branded surimi seafood product line that, today, is the #1 selling retail brand with a 36.5% share of the market. To achieve similar success in the shrimp category, Trans-Ocean has added two industry veterans to its sales and marketing team. Norio Yanagisawa, who ran the Shrimp Division at Maruha Nichiro for the past 16 years, has joined Trans-Ocean as Procurement & Product Manager, and Bryan Hampton, a former foodservice sales manager at two leading shrimp suppliers for more than twenty years, will serve as Trans-Ocean's National Foodservice Manager.

"We are excited about the opportunities we can offer our U.S. customers as a vertically integrated supplier of shrimp," said Yasuaki Kawakita, President of Trans-Ocean Products, Inc. "As we expand our portfolio of product offerings, the support of Maruha Nichiro will allow us to make the strategic decisions that will lead to long-term success for Trans-Ocean and our customers."

Maruha Nichiro's global shrimp strategy is to be "closest to the source". Its shrimp network reaches into every shrimp-producing region around the world and includes 100% ownership of Agrobest, a shrimp farming and processing operation in Malaysia, and 51% ownership of Kingfisher, a state-of-the-art shrimp processing operation in Thailand. Maruha Nichiro also has long-term, contracted agreements with shrimp producers in Vietnam, Indonesia, China and South America. The company has developed an industry-leading Shrimp Quality Assurance program that ensures the quality and safety of its shrimp products. The program's key safety measures include locating Maruha Nichiro staff on-site at each farm and processing facility for ongoing inspections and testing. Additionally, packaging and labeling specifications have been developed to guarantee the complete traceability of every order. Through the Maruha Research Center, located in Tsukuba, Japan, Maruha Nichiro has established product-testing guidelines that are the most exacting in the shrimp industry.

About Trans-Ocean
Trans-Ocean Products, Inc., founded in 1985, is one of the country's largest processors of surimi seafoods sold under the Classic brand name and also as private labels. The vertically integrated company is a United States subsidiary of Maruha-Nichiro which owns three surimi block plants in Alaska and two floating processor ships in addition to a surimi seafood processing facility in Bellingham, WA.

For more information on the new shrimp line, please contact Trans-Ocean Products, Inc. at 350 West Orchard Drive, Bellingham, WA 98225, call (800) 290-2722 or visit www.trans-ocean.com.

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