CJ CheilJedang's Next-Generation Food Ingredient Obtains North America's Top 'Vegan Certification'

CJ CheilJedang 'Flavor Enrich' Vegan Cysteine Product

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] CJ CheilJedang's next-generation food ingredient 'Cysteine' has received the most prestigious vegan certification in North America, accelerating its entry into the future food market, including alternative meat.

CJ CheilJedang announced on the 26th that its premium seasoning ingredient brand 'FlavorEnrich,' including cysteine, has obtained vegan certification from the U.S. nonprofit organization 'Vegan Action.' Founded in 1995, Vegan Action is the first and largest vegan-related nonprofit organization in the United States. To date, it has issued vegan certifications to over 10,000 products from 1,086 companies worldwide and is the most authoritative vegan certification body in North America. FlavorEnrich has also acquired vegan certification from the Korea Vegan Certification Institute, the first vegan certification body in Korea.

Cysteine is mainly used in health functional foods, pharmaceutical ingredients, and animal feed additives due to its antioxidant, detoxifying, and skin regeneration effects. Recently, its advantage of being able to replicate the natural aroma of meat has led to increased use in vegan foods, including alternative meat, as well as general processed foods. Earlier in March, CJ CheilJedang secured and commercialized the world's first technology to mass-produce functional amino acid cysteine using a non-electrolytic method.

Vegan Action issues certification only for products that do not conduct any animal testing during research, development, and all production processes and do not use animal-derived ingredients. Given this rigorous screening process, CJ CheilJedang expects vegan cysteine to demonstrate differentiated quality competitiveness in the global market. Currently, CJ CheilJedang is the only company producing cysteine based on microbial fermentation without electrolysis.

CJ CheilJedang also positively evaluates the increasing demand for vegan products in the flavor market. Cysteine can be used in halal foods, expanding its demand. The company is also paying attention to the growing trend of preferring eco-friendly and health-friendly products since COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the clean-label fermented seasoning ingredient TasteEnrich, launched last year, has successfully established itself in the market by signing trade contracts with over 100 companies in more than 30 countries. CJ CheilJedang is focusing on growth by positioning TasteEnrich as the next-generation product in the 'taste' ingredient sector and FlavorEnrich in the 'flavor' ingredient sector.

A CJ CheilJedang official said, "Vegan ingredients are not simply a concept for vegetarians but have come to mean 'healthy ingredients,'" adding, "We will nurture , which boasts differentiated competitiveness, as a 'game changer' leading changes in the global food ingredient market."