The World Institute of Kimchi and the Kimchi Association of Korea held the ‘Kimchi Industry Promotion Seminar and Technology Exchange Meeting’ at the aT Center in Seoul on the 8th (Friday) under the theme of ‘Kimchi Manufacturing Process Automation and Kimchi Starter Revitalization Plan’.

Sung-hyun Kim, the Director of the headquarters of Kimchi Industry Promotion Headquarters of the World Institute of Kimchi and Ha-yeon Lee, chairman of Korea Kimchi Association greeted the opening of the technology exchange meeting. The seminar was divided into Part 1 and Part 2, and Part 1 was in progress under the theme of 'Kimchi Manufacturing Process Automation and Smart Factory Application Plan'.

△Dong-woong Huh, Secretary of Food Industry Promotion Division of Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, “Kimchi Industry Promotion Policy” △Dr. Seong-hee Park of Practical Technology Research Group of the World Institute of Kimchi, “Status and Plan for Automation of Kimchi Manufacturing Process”, △CEO Han-seok Kim of Gaion Co., Ltd., “Application of Kimchi Factory Smart Factory” △Taehyun Lim, an examiner of the Korea Agency of HACCP Accreditation and Services(KAHAS), gave a presentation under the theme of 'HACCP Smart Factory'.

In the first part of the discussion that followed, Dr. Kihyun Kwon of the Korea Food Research Institute has chaired the meeting. Dong-woong Huh, secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Seung-hyeon Lee, Professor of Chungnam National University, and Kimchi-eun, CEO of Farmhouse Food participated as the panelists. Secretary Heo said, “Smartization is necessary for the overall kimchi manufacturing industry, but it seems necessary to classify the kimchi industry by grade in consideration of the business scale and sales of the kimchi manufacturing industry, through today's technology exchange meeting, I understood that there are many challenges to be solved in the future of the kimchi industry, and it was a place where we could get various ideas.

Part 2 was conducted under the theme of ‘Counter measures to revitalize kimchi starter and to make nutritional labeling mandatory’. △Ji-yoon Chang, Director of Fermentation Regulation Technology Research Group of the World Institute of Kimchi 'Development and technical application of Kimchi starter' △Dr. Ho-myung Kim of Eco-friendly Process Technology Research Group of the World Institute of Kimchi 'Kimchi starter supply project guide' △Dr. Hee-Min Lee of the Industrial Solution Research Group of the World Institute of Kimchi made a presentation under the theme of ‘Response to Mandatory Labeling of Kimchi Nutrient.’

In the presentation, Director Ji-yoon chang explained the role and development process of the kimchi starter in detail, and Dr. Ho-myeong Kim introduced the free supply of kimchi starter targeting kimchi manufacturers to enhance the quality competitiveness of domestic kimchi, respond to imported kimchi, and expand exports. Dr. Kim said, “We plan to conduct consulting and education to apply the kimchi starter in an optimal state.”

Lastly, Dr. Hee-Min Lee made a presentation saying, “The nutrient labeling system, which started in 1995, is continuously expanding the scope of regulations to make it mandatory for processed foods to be labeled in order to ensure the right choice for consumers.” The 'Enforcement Regulations of the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Foods, etc.', which includes the mandatory labeling of nutrients such as sodium and calories in napa cabbage kimchi, has been promulgated, it is implemented in stages according to sales, so the kimchi manufacturers must respond appropriately.” In addition, the World Institute of Kimchi announced that it plans to create and distribute data on the nutrient labeling so that kimchi manufacturers can easily see it.

The second part of the discussion was chaired by Ji-yoon chang, director, and Kwang-ho Kim, director of Trechan Co., Ltd., a kimchi manufacturer that has received and applied kimchi starter from the World Institute of Kimchi, and Dr. Ho-myung Kim and Dr. Hee-min Lee participated as panelists.

Director Kim said, “Before applying kimchi starter, it is necessary to establish standards for raw materials and manufacturing process for each company before applying the kimchi starter because different results are shown depending on the conditions of the original product of kimchi to be applied.” he gave advice to companies that want to apply kimchi starter.

Dong-woong Heo, secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, “Since the kimchi starter is made for standardization, I think that the purpose of the distribution project can be achieved only when the conditions that the kimchi starter can grow well in any environment must be presented first,” “It is necessary to fully listen to the difficulties and constantly monitor the problems in the application process of the kimchi starter.”

Ji-yoon Chang, Director of the World Institute of Kimchi said, “The function of kimchi starter is not one, and we are developing starters with the function of extending the quality retention period as well as a variety of customized starters such as aging control functions.”

Meanwhile, the technology exchange meeting was heated up with heated discussion, and many kimchi manufacturers also participated online to exchange the latest trends and research contents of the research institute.