A view of the Hyundai Green Food "Everyone's Co-Prosperity Project" event held Tuesday at HD Hyundai Oilbank's Daesan factory in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province [Hyundai Green Food]
A view of the Hyundai Green Food "Everyone's Co-Prosperity Project" event held Tuesday at HD Hyundai Oilbank's Daesan factory in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province [Hyundai Green Food]

Hyundai Green Food, a comprehensive food company under the Hyundai Department Store Group, announced Tuesday that it will run the first pilot of the "Everyone's Co-Prosperity Project" — a program overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs — in partnership with South Chungcheong Province.

The co-prosperity platform brings together companies, local farms and regional governments to raise the value of domestically grown produce and pursue sustainable shared growth. It is set to launch in full next year.

Hyundai Green Food will purchase about 500 tons of agricultural products from South Chungcheong Province, including 280 tons of onions from Seosan, 200 tons of rice from Buyeo, and chestnuts, ginkgo nuts, jujubes and glutinous rice. The company plans to use the produce across its institutional catering and restaurant operations.

Through October, menus featuring South Chungcheong produce will be served at more than 650 institutional catering sites nationwide. New dishes developed for the initiative include caramelized onion pork stir-fry, onion curry rice and shredded fried onion cream pasta. On Tuesday, about 1,700 employees at HD Hyundai Oilbank's Daesan factory in Seosan were served a lotus-leaf rice dish billed as "the flavors of South Chungcheong."

More than 140 cafes inside catering sites will also offer a chestnut grain latte and a herbal tea blended with bellflower root, omija berries and kudzu. Hyundai Green Food's premium bakery brand Vezzly will separately release a madeleine made with rice flour from Seosan.

Hyundai Green Food has maintained ongoing co-prosperity efforts with local farms. Last year, the company purchased 609 tons of domestic produce through its "Mat-Daeum Project," a farm partnership initiative. This year, it expects to buy more than double that amount through the co-prosperity program.

"We will go beyond simply purchasing local produce and carry out a range of activities that add value, so that we can contribute to building a sustainable co-prosperity ecosystem with farming communities," said Lee Heon-sang, executive vice president and head of Hyundai Green Food's product division.


spa@heraldcorp.com