Koara no machi
Encyclopedia
Lotte (conglomerate)
Lotte Co., Ltd. is a South Korean-Japanese Jaebeol and one of the largest food and shopping groups in South Korea and Japan. Lotte was established in June 1948, in Tokyo, by Japanese-educated, Korean businessman Shin Kyuk-Ho – also known as...
, and the product was first released in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and was released in March 1984 as "Koala Yummies" in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Because of this the origin of the snack is commonly misunderstood and believed to be Japanese while few know that it is really a product of Thailand.
Koala's March is in the shape of a koala
Koala
The koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae....
with a picture of a koala on the outside of the cookie doing various activities. There are various flavors available for the filling, such as honey, cafe latte, and banana. The two most common flavors are strawberry and chocolate, and are the only flavors available in the US along with white chocolate
White chocolate
White chocolate is a confectionery derivative of chocolate. It commonly consists of cocoa butter, sugar, milk solids and salt, and is characterized by a pale yellow or ivory appearance...
creme filled chocolate cookies. The snack also comes in pineapple flavor, though it is rarer than the other flavors. Koala's March supports the Australian conservation group Australian Koala Foundation
Australian Koala Foundation
The Australian Koala Foundation is an international not-for-profit scientific organisation that aims to diminish the threats to the survival of koalas and in doing so raise the awareness of the global community to help save endangered fauna and flora...
.
Relations to the Melamine-Tainted Milk Scandal
In the 2008 Chinese milk scandal2008 Chinese milk scandal
The 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a food safety incident in the People's Republic of China, involving milk and infant formula, and other food materials and components, adulterated with melamine....
of September 2008, the Koala's March cookies were recalled in both Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
after Macau's Health Bureau found unsafe levels of the industrial chemical melamine
Melamine
Melamine is an organic base and a trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 66% nitrogen by mass and, if mixed with resins, has fire retardant properties due to its release of nitrogen gas when burned or charred, and has several other industrial uses....
in the product. Both major supermarket chains in Hong Kong, Wellcome
Wellcome
Wellcome is a supermarket chain owned by Jardine Matheson Holdings via its Dairy Farm subsidiary. The Wellcome supermarket chain is one of the two largest supermarket chains in Hong Kong, the other being PARKnSHOP. Wellcome also operates supermarkets in Taiwan under the Wellcome name...
and PARKnSHOP
PARKnSHOP
PARKnSHOP is one of the two largest supermarket chains in Hong Kong, the other being Wellcome. PARKnSHOP operates more than 260 outlets in Hong Kong, Macau, and Mainland China....
, promptly removed the cookies off their store shelves as a precautionary measure.