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Shoyu-tai[1], also known assoy sauce fishes, are small fish-shaped containers for liquid condiments such assoy sauce.[2] They were first produced in Japan in the 1950s, originally in the shape ofsnappers. Although their use decreased by the 21st century, they continue to be used inbento andsushi containers andairline meals.
Soy sauce fishes have spread in use asJapanese cuisine has grown popular outside of Japan. In 2025, as part of an effort to address plastics pollution, the Australian state ofSouth Australia became the first place in the world to ban their use.[3]
Soy sauce fishes were invented in the 1950s by the founder ofOsaka Prefecture-based manufacturerAsahi Sogyo [jp], Teruo Watanabe.[4][5] This type of container is also referred to asshoyu-tai (醤油鯛,shōyu-dai), literally "soy saucesnapper", owing to the shape of thepolyethylene containers were originally produced in during the 1950s.[6] Their use decreased by the 21st century, though they continue to be used inbento boxed meals,sushi roll containers, andairline meals.[7]
AsJapanese cuisine has grown in popularity in other countries, use of soy sauce fishes has spread alongside it.[4] Soy sauce fishes produced byLittle Soya, based in Texas, US, were set to be taken on aNASA space launch to theInternational Space Station in 2014.[8][9]
British charityGMFA's 2015 public health campaign, Good Chems, recommended use of soy sauce fishes to measure safe dosages ofrecreational drugs, among other practices aimed at preventing drug overdose.[10] It was particularly recommended for gay men usingGHB: a typical soy sauce fish has a capacity of 3 millilitres (0.1 US fl oz), and the recommended safe dose of GHB is exactly half of this.[11] In 2017, theSydney Morning Herald reported on the illegal recreational use of1,4-butanediol, sometimes packaged in the containers, inMelbourne nightclubs.[12]
The sale and distribution of soy sauce fishes and rectangular soy sauce containers, among other plastics, was forbidden in the Australian state ofSouth Australia in 2025 in an effort to address plastics pollution.[3][13] According todeputy premierSusan Close, they were specifically banned over other condiment containers because they are "easily dropped, blown away, or washed into drains" and "too small to be captured by sorting machinery and often end up in landfill or as fugitive plastic in the environment".[14][3]
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