Showcase held Tuesday features 16 products from 10 companies
Lineup ranges from potato bread and nutritional porridge to full meals
17 retail and food-service channels participate, including hypermarkets and home shopping networks
![Companies and products participating in the 2026 Neulpyeon Food showcase [Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs · Korea Food Industry Cluster Promotion Agency]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/09/14/news-p.v1.20260914.a26cd3ff19044d0e962d98977e8ad3a2_P1.png)
The number of government-certified elder-friendly food products under the "Neulpyeon Food" label has grown to 201 this year. The government is expanding distribution beyond care facilities to mainstream retail channels — including hypermarkets, home shopping networks and online shopping malls — to bring elder-friendly food into everyday consumption.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Tuesday it is co-hosting the "2026 Neulpyeon Food Showcase" with the Korea Food Industry Cluster Promotion Agency at SVC Seoul in Mapo-gu, Seoul.
Neulpyeon Food is a certification for products designed to be easy for older adults to chew and swallow, simple to prepare and nutritionally adequate. The ministry has run the certification program since 2021 and last year rebranded it as Neulpyeon Food — a name meaning "food you can always eat comfortably" — to make it more recognizable to consumers. The number of certified products stands at 201 this year.
Ten companies producing Neulpyeon Food products are presenting 16 items at the showcase. Seventeen representatives from key distribution and food-service channels — including care facilities, hospitals, catering and ingredient distributors, hypermarkets, online shopping malls, home shopping networks and senior residential communities — are also taking part.
The product lineup has expanded well beyond porridge to include snacks and full meals. Items up for evaluation include fiber-enriched soft potato bread, nutritional cup porridge, high-protein chicken breast noodles, perilla mushroom tofu rice and fresh ginseng samgyetang nutritional rice.
Products are tiered according to the chewing ability of older adults. This showcase includes Tier 1 and Tier 3 products. Soft potato bread, sliced Hanwoo beef and perilla mushroom tofu rice are among the Tier 1 offerings, while thick soy milk soup, nutritional cup porridge and sea lettuce abalone porridge fall under Tier 3.
The event goes beyond tasting: one-on-one business consultations between participating companies and retail and food-service buyers are also on the agenda. Merchandisers and procurement officers will assess each product's texture and ease of consumption before meeting with producers to discuss commercial viability, market potential and distribution feasibility.
Participating distribution channels include facility-based channels such as Yongin Severance Hospital, care hospitals and nursing homes, as well as catering and ingredient distributors, hypermarkets, online shopping malls and home shopping networks. Premium senior residential communities and other channels catering specifically to older consumers are also represented.
The ministry designated the Elder-Friendly Industry Support Center in 2021 to foster the elder-friendly food sector. The Korea Food Industry Cluster Promotion Agency, which operates the center, supports the certification evaluation of producers, distribution diversification and training for related organizations. This year, the agency is also running a pilot project that supplies Neulpyeon Food directly to welfare centers in urban areas and senior community centers in rural areas to identify areas for improvement.
Jeong Gyeong-seok, the ministry's director general for food industry policy, said South Korea's rapid aging made it essential to expand support for Neulpyeon Food products that older adults can eat with ease and trust. "We will spare no effort in supporting a wide variety of Neulpyeon Food products so that people can access them easily," he said.
adastra@heraldcorp.com
