"Establishing a Strict and Fair Certification System"
From Education to Certification and Corporate Consulting
Also Engaged in Developing a Smart Vegetarian Platform
Kwon Yujin, President of the Korea Vegan Promotion Agency, is conducting vegan education for university students.
[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] "I hope that from a young age, people receive proper vegetarian education and that, based on this, a healthy and sustainable vegetarian culture becomes widely established."
On the 4th, Kwon Yoo-jin, Director of the Korea Vegan Promotion Institute, emphasized in an interview with Asia Economy that the goal is to establish a strict and fair certification system to enhance the credibility of vegan and vegetarian certifications. She stated that by building accurate and rigorous certification standards and procedures based on data?not confusing or ambiguous certifications for consumers?they aim to contribute to the spread of smart vegetarianism and a proper vegetarian culture.
Founded in July last year, the Korea Vegan Promotion Institute is a vegan certification and education organization composed of food and cosmetics experts. Director Kwon, who worked as a research official in the food sector at the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for 14 years, is striving to spread a smart vegetarian culture based on scientific evidence by establishing a systematic and professional certification system, along with appropriate certification standards and procedures, based on her diverse practical experience.
The Korea Vegan Promotion Institute’s vegan and vegetarian certifications distinguish between veganism, which means complete vegetarianism, and lacto, ovo, lacto-ovo, pesco, and pollo vegetarians, depending on the inclusion of dairy products, eggs, poultry, and seafood. The animal-derived ingredients allowed vary by the stage of vegetarianism, and the Institute’s certification can be subdivided accordingly. The certifications apply to food, cosmetics, raw materials, restaurants, and production processes.
Besides certification work, the Korea Vegan Promotion Institute conducts vegan certification and vegetarian-related education for companies and consumers and operates its own laboratory for continuous research and development. The education is broadly divided into three categories. First, education for companies. Director Kwon explained, "For companies, there is basic vegan education aimed at delivering overall knowledge about veganism and vegan certification education designed to train employees to prepare in advance for vegan certification audits." She added, "Both courses issue certificates of completion after finishing the education."
There is also education for consumers. This includes customized courses for acquiring proper knowledge to experience smart veganism and become true vegetarians, as well as one-day classes that make veganism and vegetarianism easily accessible. Consumer education also issues certificates of completion. Lastly, there is the expert course called Vegan Meister education. This program trains vegan and vegetarian experts who can work as vegan auditors and vegetarian nutrition coordinators. After completing the course and passing an internal exam, successful candidates receive the Vegan Meister certification.
The Korea Vegan Promotion Institute’s certification is conducted through a systematic and scientific system at an international level. A major differentiator is operating its own laboratory for animal gene analysis, enabling certification audits based on objective analytical data from experiments rather than arbitrary or subjective judgments. Additionally, it has an expert advisory committee composed of food nutrition and food production specialists and offers the industry’s first vegan and vegetarian specialized online and offline education.
Recently, the Institute has been focusing on developing a personalized vegetarian consulting program by building a vegetarian information platform. Through this, they plan to become a platform that helps consumers aiming for vegetarianism access it more easily and comfortably while reducing nutritional loss. Director Kwon said, "Vegan and vegetarian culture in Korea has not yet been properly established, and misunderstandings about its awareness and concepts exist. Going forward, I want to contribute to the production of healthy vegetarian products and the spread of a proper vegetarian culture through various vegan and vegetarian education programs."
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