The ‘2023 Seoul International Food Industry Exhibition (SEOUL FOOD 2023, hereinafter referred to as Seoul Food 2023)’ was held at KINTEX in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do from Tuesday, the 30th of last month to Friday, June 6, hosted by KOTRA.
The ’41 Seoul International Food Industry Exhibition’, which celebrated its 2023st anniversary this year, is Korea’s largest and Asia’s largest food exhibition to promote exchange and strengthen cooperation between domestic and foreign food-related companies, and is optimized for participating companies aiming to enter overseas markets. Provided a marketing opportunity.
Due to the spread of K-culture and the development of YouTube, the popularity of K-food is increasing day by day. Thanks to the popularity of K-food, the number of domestic food manufacturing businesses is approximately 57 (as of 9,000, provided by aT FIS food industry statistics), and the number of small and medium-sized enterprises challenging the food industry is gradually increasing.
Problems are also being discovered in the rapidly revitalized food industry. In the case of small and medium-sized businesses, the majority of employees are flocking to the manufacturing sector to meet the rapidly increasing production volume. In addition, with quality managers helping out in the manufacturing department, it is easy for them to miss the strict food guidelines. Another problem is that business continuity is not guaranteed due to frequent turnover of employees in small and medium-sized businesses. Due to various problems, the quality control of small and medium-sized food companies does not meet the increasingly stringent guidelines and stagnates.
The ‘Food Safety Mutual Growth Foundation’ (Chairman Kim Sang-ik, hereinafter referred to as the Food Safety Mutual Growth Foundation), which participated in this exhibition, was established as a foundation under the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to promote the growth of food small and medium-sized enterprises with pure public interest in order to bridge the gap in quality control with organized and systematic large corporations. .
As part of CJ CheilJedang Co., Ltd.’s CSV (Creating Shared Value), the Food Safety Coexistence Foundation was established to help small and medium-sized businesses, contributing all of the initial foundation funds and annual operating expenses, and encouraging the participation of other large food companies to bridge the gap between large companies and small and medium-sized businesses. It is operated as a ‘Win-Win Foundation’ to strengthen the overall capabilities of the domestic food industry.
We met Kim Min-gyu, executive director of the Food Safety Coexistence Foundation, who set up a booth with a food small and medium-sized enterprise at the ‘2023 Seoul International Food Industry Fair’, and heard about the foundation.
Q. AVING News: Please introduce the Food Safety Mutual Growth Foundation.
A. Executive Director Kim Min-gyu: Unlike most large food companies that operate specialized food safety organizations, most small and medium-sized food companies are having difficulty establishing a response system to the changing food safety environment and issues.
In order to provide practical help to small and medium-sized food companies in their difficulties, a public interest foundation was established in January 2014, and it is serving as a ‘window of coexistence’ through which large companies’ food safety management know-how can be widely shared.
To date, this foundation has been carrying out support projects based on the ‘principle of free benefit’ and the ‘principle of equal benefit’, and will continue to faithfully fulfill its founding purpose of social contribution by supporting the upgrading of food safety management capabilities of small and medium-sized food companies. will be.
Q. AVING News: What motivated you to participate in the ‘2023 Seoul International Food Industry Fair’?
A. Executive Director Kim Min-gyu: The purpose projects being carried out by this foundation are △ quality and safety guidance △ food safety education △ academic discussion events △ analysis-related support △ other purpose projects (support for participation in exhibitions).
Among these, a booth was set up with three companies to implement ‘other purpose projects’ that aim to promote products of small and medium-sized enterprises with excellent quality and safety guidance and help develop sales channels. We hope that this exhibition will be an opportunity for the three companies to actively promote their domestic market development and export marketing.
Q. AVING News: Please introduce the companies that participated in this exhibition with the support of the Food Safety Coexistence Foundation.
A. Executive Director Kim Min-gyu: Korea’s largest red pepper powder manufacturer ‘Taeyang Agricultural Co., Ltd.’ (CEO Lee Sang-geun), spray-drying technique concentrate and extract powder manufacturer ‘Fine FT Co., Ltd. (CEO Park Seung-cheol), bagel and dough manufacturing confectionery company’ Good to Bake Co., Ltd. (CEO Hwang Seok) participated in the ‘2023 Seoul International Food Industry Fair’.
A sensitive issue among food safety accidents is defective manufacturing. In particular, with regard to red pepper powder, as has been a hot topic in the past, there have been incidents of mixing fake red pepper powder or disguising foreign products as domestic products. To prevent such accidents, Taeyang Agricultural Co., Ltd. not only separated the production lines, but also thoroughly separated the production buildings.
In addition, since red pepper powder is a food sensitive to microbial contamination, facilities such as sterilization equipment and ultraviolet rays management were installed to ensure a safe distribution process and expand the consumer base. In addition to general consumers, we also supply products to large corporations and sell through home shopping.
Fine FT Company possesses special technology to minimize losses during product powder processing, thereby increasing yield and maintaining the product’s unique flavor. Based on this technology, we are developing our own products and conducting OEM and ODM toll processing business, and are also operating our own brand ‘LODAM’.
In addition, it also owns a company-affiliated research center, where it has intensively researched and developed the fields of food processing and spray drying systems. We are conducting microbiological tests, sensory evaluations, general tests, PSD dry powder tests, extraction/concentration tests, liquid tests, granule condition tests, etc. We have also registered several patents based on our long-term know-how and experience.
Good to Bake produces finished bagels, cookies, scones, and brownies. We also mass-produce various dough products such as waffles, sweets, cheese balls, and eclairs and supply them to large coffee franchises.
Q. AVING News: Since the types of food are different for each participating company, it seems that it would have been difficult for the foundation to target customized targets for each company. What did you focus on?
A. Executive Director Kim Min-gyu: Just looking at the three companies participating in this exhibition, their raw materials, manufacturing methods, and manufacturing periods are all different. However, the content of support provided by this foundation to each company is largely the same. Since food is directly related to health, we focused on improving on-site hygiene management such as Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and HACCP.
The ultimate goal of supporting small and medium-sized food companies is to raise the quality control level of small and medium-sized companies with low infrastructure to a level where they can be supplied to large companies through one year of foundation support. In addition, it reaches a level that passes the audit of many domestic distribution companies.
To date, we have supported over 200 companies. Among them, there were cases where the products were successfully supplied to large distribution chains and large corporations, and there were also cases where the company started its own brand and successfully settled in the market. Even though the food and manufacturing methods of the supporting companies are different, the foundation is working to help secure and pioneer new distribution networks through systematic support.
Q. AVING News: Alternative foods have recently become a hot topic due to food security issues due to the climate crisis. The training for related companies seems to be a bit special, and I am curious about what kind of content the foundation is preparing.
A. Executive Director Kim Min-gyu: Alternative foods have been mentioned for over a decade for various reasons such as the climate crisis, the pursuit of wellness live, eco-friendliness, and animal welfare, but they have not become popular in Korea until now. In order to further promote development and increase consumer awareness, and further maintain the global competitiveness of K-food, government legal guidelines for alternative foods must first be established.
In order for food industrialization to be activated, there must be laws such as labeling standards and standards, but these have not yet been clearly announced in Korea. This month, the enforcement rules of the Food Sanitation Act will be revised to expand the scope of recognition of temporary food raw materials such as cell culture, and in August, alternative food definitions, new manufacturing and processing standards, and labeling guidelines will be prepared.
Last month, the foundation hosted a seminar under the theme, ‘K-Food Future Engine Alternative Food Global Market Targeting and Development Tasks.’ Related experts came together and received attention from industry, academia, and the government. In the United States, since 2019, roles have been divided between the FDA for technical aspects and the USDA for mass production, and various Impossible Foods are currently being produced. We hope that the domestic food industry will have clear guidelines for alternative food, develop various alternative food ingredients, and further expand the food industry.
Q. AVING News: Lastly, I would like to hear about your future plans.
A. Executive Director Kim Min-gyu: Domestic consumers’ awareness of food is becoming smarter and their interest is increasing. In order to promote the growth of food companies in this trend, the foundation is carrying out various systematic support projects. All food safety education is conducted online, so anyone can access it, and information on food-related academic discussion events is also provided.
This foundation helps small and medium-sized food companies through public interest activities. Through the sponsorship of large corporations and the participation of various small and medium-sized businesses, we will develop and provide more detailed and thorough education in accordance with changing times. Accordingly, it is expected that the infrastructure of the domestic food industry will be upgraded to the next level.
Meanwhile, the ‘2023 Seoul International Food Industry Exhibition’ hosted by KOTRA will strengthen exchanges and cooperation between domestic and foreign food industry-related companies, and provide a conference to discuss domestic and international food trends and insights, and various programs to expand business networks. done. A variety of companies and contents were introduced, including domestic and foreign food-related companies, as well as food equipment, food packaging, and safety equipment-related companies related to food safety, as well as hotels and restaurants.
→ Go to the 2023 Seoul International Food Industry Fair news special page