Naju City in Jeollanam-do will hold a forum on the theme of “Development Plans for Carbon Neutral Food Upcycling Industrialization” at 10:30 a.m. on the 18th in the Ihwa Room of the City Hall.
According to the city on the 15th, this forum will feature a keynote presentation and discussion based on the results of a feasibility study for the food upcycling project that Naju City has been promoting for three months since July, in line with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ food tech industry promotion policy.
Last December 14, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced the vision and strategy for fostering the food tech industry as a new growth engine for the future food industry through the “Food Tech Industry Development Plan” and on June 29 of this year, the “4th Basic Plan for Food Industry Promotion.”
Accordingly, the city is focusing on discovering and promoting the carbon neutral food upcycling industrialization project, which develops new foods using agricultural products and food processing by-products, as one of the 10 core areas of food tech.
Major projects include “food upcycling industrialization” such as upcycling resource surveys and research on useful components, and the construction of a “Food Upcycling Research Support Center” within the Naju Food Industrial Complex.
The city emphasizes the locational advantages of this industry, noting that Jeollanam-do is the largest producer of agricultural and marine products, providing abundant upcycling materials, and that it possesses facilities and equipment capable of handling everything from material development to product testing and prototype production.
The Naju Food Industrial Complex, Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT), Korea Rural Economic Institute, Korea Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and Dongshin University’s Department of Korean Medicine are located here, making it easy to establish an industry-academia-research cluster in connection with Chonnam National University’s Department of Food Engineering and Jeollanam-do Food Industry Research Center.
The forum will proceed with a keynote presentation by Dr. Jeon Junho of the Korea Food Development Institute, followed by a panel discussion.
Participants in the mutual discussion include Professor Lee Sanghyun of Chonnam National University’s Department of Horticultural Biotechnology, Professors Kim Youngmin and Cho Jeongyong of Chonnam National University’s Department of Food Engineering, Naju City Council member (Chairman of the Economic Industry Committee) Park Sojun, and Yang Eunju, head of the Research and Development Team at the Food Industry Research Center.
Mayor Yoon Byungtae said, “By recycling raw materials from the food industry to produce high value-added products, we can secure agricultural competitiveness and increase farmers’ income, as well as overcome the climate and environmental crisis through greenhouse gas reduction via carbon neutrality, highlighting the great importance of the food upcycling industry in a resource-circulating society.”
He added, “Through this forum, I hope to unite the capabilities of industry, academia, and research in the food upcycling field and broaden the understanding of farmers and citizens.”
Naju = Kim Yukbong, Honam Reporting Headquarters, Asia Economy baekok@asiae.co.kr
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