Material Issue 1. Health & Safety
What do customers want?
HOW WE MANAGE
COVID-19 and changes in the population structure have changed our ways of life. We spend more time at home, buy more products online, and consume more products that consider individual health as well as environmental and social values. In order to offer healthier food for the consumers, CJ CheilJedang strives to improve the nutritional quality of its products. Also, by developing products that reflect consumers’ lifestyle changes and their environmental and social values, we will work toward satisfying our customers’ needs and creating a sustainable society.
Establish strategies
to implement the CJ Nutrition Policy
CJ CheilJedang is working to contribute to our consumers achieving healthy and balanced eating habits by offering healthy food products. We are especially in the middle of implementing a mid-to long-term nutritional policy strategy that we established to increase the nutritional value of our company’s products. More specifically, we established ‘Nutrition Commitment 2025’ and are implementing nutritional quality improvement projects for each one of our products. We also newly established the process to assess the nutritional value when developing new products, strengthening the process for healthy product development. In addition, to enhance the implementation of our activities to improve the health and nutrition of our consumers, we formed a Nutrition Committee with the company’s overall value chain involved. Moving forward, we hope to continuously enhance our company’s action system for our nutritional policy and expand our portfolio of health-oriented products that consider consumers’ health and nutrition.
Establishment of the CJ Nutrition Criteria by each product category
To provide healthy processed foods to our consumers, we have established The ‘CJ Nutrition Criteria(CJ nutrition guidelines by each product category)’ based on domestic and international nutritional standards and guidelines and utilize it for product development. By considering the company’s portfolio, we categorized our products and established standards for energy(calories) and nutrients(fat, saturated fat, trans fat, sugar, sodium). Based on this, we continuously evaluate the nutritional quality of existing products and use it as a nutritional guideline in the development phase of new health-oriented products as part of our continuous efforts to provide healthy products.
Establishment of Nutrition Policy Implementation
In order to improve the nutritional quality of our products, CJ CheilJedang has established goals to increase the nutritional quality of our current products and also strengthened the process of developing new products. First, we use the CJ Nutritional Guidelines to analyze the nutritional quality of our products. Especially for products that were selected to be reduced, such as nutrients that people in the current era can easily overconsume such as Sodium, Saturated fat, and Sugar, we have established and implemented the mid-to-long-term goals of ‘Nutrition Commitment 2025’. In order to achieve this, we have established an improvement roadmap for each product’s nutritional quality and are carrying out quality improvement step-by-step. Also, we have newly built the nutritional quality assessment stage within the development process of new products and are assessing the nutritional quality of our strategic products in advance. In this way, we hope to continue expanding our portfolio of health-oriented products and fulfill our social responsibility that contributes to consumer health.
Operating the Nutrition Committee
We operate our Nutrition Committee every quarter so that we could assess the nutritional quality of our company’s products and to suggest and agree on new ideas related to health and nutrition. This is a committee that meets to decide and discuss the company’s implementation strategies on its nutritional policies with the involvement of all value chain including marketing, R&D, production, and consumer communication. By operating this committee, we hope to continuously materialize the company’s implementation strategies regarding its nutritional policy, and to accelerate our action to enhance the consumer’s health and nutrition, ultimately strengthening our leadership in nutrition based on consumers’ trust.
Developing differentiated products
that consider health and nutrition
Recent trends in food products are geared towards health and nutritional elements beyond simple taste and convenience. With this in mind, CJ CheilJedang is working to develop new products that reflect the changes in consumers’ lifestyles as well as the environmental and social value. In addition, to improve the product’s nutritional value, we are assessing the nutritional quality of our current products and selecting products that need improvement to pursue step-by-step nutritional quality improvement measures. Along with this, CJ CheilJedang is continuously expanding its portfolio of health-oriented products to fulfill its social responsibility that contributes to the consumer’s well-being.
Improving the nutritional value of existing products
To contribute to the consumers’ well-being through its products, CJ CheilJedang continuously strives to reduce sodium and saturated fat in its products. In particular, we consider Koreans’ eating habits and look at our soup/stew, noodles, processed meat, and Mandu categories that allow more sodium and saturated fat consumption. From these products, we are selecting priority products that need improvement in sodium and saturated fat content and are taking step-by-step measures to reduce them. Especially in 2021, we are predicting a reduction amount of 18 tons of sodium and 188 tons of saturated fat compared to the previous year based on production amount. By linking this to our mid-to-longterm nutritional goals of ‘Nutrition Commitment 2025’, we hope to continuously increase our products’ nutritional value.
Launch of new health-oriented products
Launching plant-based Mandu, ‘Bibigo PlanTable Mandu’ ㅣ We launched ‘Bibigo PlanTable Mandu’ made from 100% vegetable ingredients, such as plant-based meat substitutes using soybeans peas and vegetable oils. By using plant-based meat, we added the delicious texture and reduced the amount of saturated fat. Also, CJ CheilJedang used its own ‘TasteNrich’ solution, a natural seasoning material, to realize the taste of delicious Mandu without using any meat. Within three months of its launch, it reached 1st place in sales in the plant-based Mandu sector. In addition, we are currently exporting the product to 10 overseas countries in line with global demands. In addition to Mandu, we are planning to expand various menus and expand export countries in the future.
Instant nutritional rice ‘Hetbahn Sotbahn’ ㅣ As instant rice has become a ‘daily food’, we launched a nutritional cooked rice product called ‘Hetbahn Sotbahn’ that meets the needs of various consumers. ‘Hetbahn Sotbahn’ is added with whole grains, mushrooms, vegetables, nuts, etc. other than rice for higher protein and fiber content. By applying the ‘Sotbahn vacuum pressing’ technology, we were able to bring out each ingredient’s texture, flavor, and aroma. In the future, we will expand the product portfolio that considers consumers’ needs so that Hetbahn Sotbhan can represent Hetbahn’s philosophy of making everyday rice become a healthier tasty rice product that can be enjoyed anytime.
Releasing ‘The Healthy Chicken Breasts’ ㅣ We have released ‘The Healthy chicken breasts’ with added protein content and reduced saturated fat. We especially minimized the use of food additives such as preservatives, antioxidants, and coloring and instead added TasteNrich, a plant-derived fermented flavoring ingredient as well as Andes salt, resulting in a product with 25% less sodium compared to other products in the market. We hope to expand our portfolio with various forms of products that meet the consumers’ needs and lifestyles and achieve a ‘daily habit of consuming chicken breasts’ that is tasty and healthy.
TasteNrich®, 100% natural material
with no artificial additives
TasteNrich® is a natural premium seasoning made from ingredients produced by an eco-friendly fermentation process using plantderived raw ingredients. TasteNrich®, a result of 60 years of accumulated fermentation technology and R&D capabilities, is also animal, GMO, and allergen-free and does not contain synthetic additives, offering assurance of the materials as a ‘Clean Label’ cooking solution. Transparency in food safety has become a trend in food culture worldwide. TasteNrich® has not only acquired the ‘Kosher’ and ‘Halal’ certifications but can increase saltiness even with in reduced intake of sodium, so that it can bring out healthy and enjoyable taste experiences. TasteNrich® is a ‘customized solution provider’. We have signed with approximately 120 companies including spices/sauce/food product companies in 33 countries of North America and Europe, establishing TasteNrich® as a key product. As a result, we reached an accumulated sales of KRW 20 billion within the first year of its launch. Through its efforts to achieve a healthier taste, CJ CheilJedang is practicing the spirit of ‘Nature to Nature’ where we return the benefits received from nature back to nature.
FlavorNrich™ Master C, Certified by the Vegan Action
FlavorNrich™ Master C is the world’s first Vegan Cysteine created by CJ CheilJedang’s fermentation method that is gaining recognition as the next-generation eco-friendly food material. This is because Cysteine allows you to achieve the original aroma of meat without animal-based raw materials or animal testing. CJ CheilJedang’s Cysteine which is produced through a natural fermentation method was certified vegan by Vegan Action, a non-profit organization in the U.S. in October 2021. ‘Vegan Action’ only issues certificates to companies that do not conduct any animal testing in all R&D as well as production processes, and for products that do not contain animal materials. The perception of vegan ingredients is shifting from a simple vegetarian perspective to that of healthy ingredients. CJ CheilJedang plans to lead the change in the global food materials market through FlavorNrich™.
Efforts for Safe Food
Systematization of the CJ Global Quality and Safety System
CJ CheilJedang operates its CJQMS* (Food Safety and Quality Management System) to deliver reliable products to our customers. Through this system, we preemptively prevent and control possible quality issues across the value chain, including in R&D, production, and sales. CJ CheilJedang’s integrated Food Safety System runs in five countries to promote the systemized quality safety system on a global scale. The CJ Global Quality Safety System pursues three criteria: fulfillment of quality philosophy and principles, localization of the Integrated Food Safety System, and obtainment of GFSI* Certification at overseas production facilities. Complying with these world-class standards, we carry out the best food safety practices.
CJ Global Quality and Safety System
Quality Philosophy
We value safety of our customers, consumers and employees by placing the ‘OnlyOne safety first culture’ as top priority of our business.
Global QMS & Certification
CJ Global QMS applied countries
GFSI Food Safety System certifications
at our overseas production sites
Regular employee training on product/service safety
Operation of Quality and Safety Academy
We regularly conduct quality and safety trainings to provide safe products/services that are in the highest quality. In order to secure and improve quality and safety expertise, the Quality and Safety Academy has selected 8 professional competency areas and its own competency grading system. It has also organized a systematic training curriculum for each field and has the highest level of Excellence experts in each field. . Through ongoing training programs, we plan to foster more experts in the future.
Quality and safety expertise and rating system
Proactive product/service safety monitoring
Operation of CJ EWS (Early Warning System)
We operate a regular preventive management system to discover and respond to risk factors related to our company in advance. This is accomplished by continuously monitoring domestic and international food-related laws and regulations, quality and safety issues, and information on hazardous substances. In particular, by issuing an EWS Alarm document and implementing prompt and accurate prevention through joint response of relevant departments, we preemptively respond to risks, and then manage them so that they do not materialize through standardization and execution capability checks.
[CJ EWS Information Response Process]
Supporting Small to Medium-sized Food Manufacturers with Quality Safety Management
As an effort to support the quality safety of small to medium-sized food manufacturers, CJ CheilJedang established a public corporation, Mutual Cooperation Foundation for Food Safety, to carry out quality safety support projects. Through this project, selected companies can receive the on-site diagnosis and improvement consultations four times a year with quality assurance guidance, take 14 on and offline training sessions on food safety at no cost, and reduce costs needed for quality analysis or equipment checks/repairs using the support funds. As of 2021, CJ CheilJedang has supported a total of 176 companies for quality safety. And as of April 2022, 24 small to medium-sized food Ceremony for the Quality Safety Support Project manufacturers were selected and a total of 200 small to medium-sized food manufacturers received free support.
We consider the health and safety of our customers and employees as our top priority in management. Based on CJ's food quality and safety regulations that are stricter than legal standards, we provide healthy and reliable products/services; from ingredients to the process of products being consumed. In addition, we work to protect the health and safety of our customers and employees by implementing a preemptive prevention system. This enables us to identify and manage potential risk factors that could jeopardize the quality and safety of our products and services in advance.
Ji Eun Lee Quality and Safety Executive in Food Business Division