Our Approach
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.
Health and Nutrition Strategies
Health & Nutrition
CJ Nutrition
Policy for
Global
Expansion
As the prevalence of chronic diseases continues to rise, countries around the world are tightening policies and legislation on diet and food intake to prevent them. In particular, an increasing number of countries are requiring the nutritional quality of products to be displayed on the front of the package or enforcing sales regulations based on the nutritional quality of products to help consumers choose healthier products. In line with these global trends in nutrition policy, CJ CheilJedang has proactively identified the nutritional quality of its products, and the risks, and opportunities associated with them. We also plan to refine and implement nutrition strategies for each region and country to provide products with improved nutritional value to consumers around the world. As a global food company, CJ CheilJedang will continue to contribute to the health and nutrition of consumers and strengthen transparency regarding the nutritional value of its products.
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.
Enhancing Transparency in Global Nutrition Labelling
As a global food company, CJ CheilJedang strives to provide health values to consumers worldwide and communicate relevant information transparently. First, we are proactively reviewing and addressing risk factors associated with our products related to country-specific nutrition regulations, such as High in Fat, Salt or Sugar (HFSS)1) in the UK and Nutri-Grade System2) in Singapore. We also aim to adopt voluntary nutritional labeling systems, such as the Health Star Rating and the Nutri-score to provide clear information on the nutritional quality of our products and to establish a system that facilitates transparent disclosure of such information.
1) A policy to limit advertising and promotion of foods high in saturated fat, sodium, or total sugars.
2) A policy to assign nutritional levels to beverages based on their saturated fat and sugar content.
Developing
Products for
Health and
Nutrition
CJ CheilJedang is committed to developing products that provide nutritional value in line with consumer trends and health needs. In particular, our Nutrition Commitment 2025 guides us in selecting categories and products that contribute to sodium, saturated fat, and sugar intake, and to gradually reduce sodium, saturated fat, and sugar while increasing the content of recommended nutrients such as calcium and iron in products that are primarily targeted at children. We have also expanded our portfolio to include new products with plant-based ingredients. By continuously expanding our range of health-oriented products, CJ CheilJedang aims to provide consumers with more choices and contribute to their healthy lifestyles.
Launching Health-oriented Products
The bibigo Mandu Lite with 25% less calories
In response to consumer's demands for nutritious ingredients, we launched the new bibigo Mandu Light in three flavors which have 25% fewer calories. We used lean pork or chicken breast as fillings, replaced glass noodles with konjac noodles, and added konjac powder to the wrapper to reduce calories. Moving forward, we plan to expand our health-oriented frozen mandu products including plant-based mandu to cater to evolving consumer trends.
The Hetbahn Multigrain Konjac with dietary fiber
For consumers looking for a healthy diet, we launched Hetbahn Brown Rice, Oat and Konjac and Hetbahn Oat, Purple Rice and Konjac, which offer ideal blends of brown rice, oat and purple rice. Each bowl of multigrain konjac rice contains more than five grams of fiber, which can help improve safety. To ensure even and thorough cooking of the konjac rice, we used a different cooking method from existing Hetbahn products which better preserves the moisture and texture while maximizing flavors.
Developing Healthy Products for Specific Target Consumers
Expanding the Plant-based Food Brand “PlanTable”
CJ CheilJedang's plant-based product brand, "PlanTable" launched the PlanTable Mandu and the PlanTable Kimchi in 2021, followed by Tteokgalbi (Korean-style beef patties), a hamburger steak, two types of rice balls, and a grain bowl in 2022. To achieve healthy flavors using 100% plant-based ingredients, we developed Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), which has a meat-like texture, and utilized our proprietary plant-based "TasteNrich" seasoning. The brand will help bring healthier and more delicious options to consumers' tables.
Maxbon Obtained the Children's Favorite Foods Safety Certification
By adding more calcium and iron compared to original products, CJ CheilJedang's Maxbon received the quality certification in Children’s Preferable Food from the Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. This certification is bestowed upon foods commonly preferred and consumed by children, such as cookies, chocolates, and carbonated beverages, and products with this certification are subject to stringent monitoring by the government. Maxbon is certified to contain over 15% of the recommended daily amount of calcium and iron. The details of the quality certification are available on the product and safety information page of the ‘Consumer 24’ portal.
The “Low Protein Rice” for People with Hereditary Metabolic Disorders and
the “Rice That May Help Control Blood Sugar After Meals” for Blood Sugar Control
Since 2009, CJ CheilJedang has been developing and selling low-protein rice products that contain only 10% of the protein of regular Hetbahn for people with hereditary metabolic disorders such as phenylketonuria (PKU). The idea for these products was originated from a CJ CheilJedang employee who had a child with PKU, and since then the company has developed original technologies and built production facilities. The production of low-protein rice requires a special process that is inefficient and far from profitable. Nevertheless, CJ CheilJedang has kept the production line running for 12 years. In addition, we developed "Rice That May Help Control Blood Sugar After Meals" to help consumers who need to control their blood sugar levels enjoy delicious meals in their daily lives instead of relying on inconvenient diets. The product was certified as a healthy functional food by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in 2013 and has been on the market since then.
