Uribio Selected as Collaborative Research Institution for 'Lutein Localization' National Project by Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Woori Bio announced on the 21st that it has been selected as a collaborative research institution for the project "Development of Lutein-Containing Materials Using Domestic Green and Yellow Vegetables and Plant Factory Marigold Flowers," part of the customized innovative food and natural safe material technology development project announced by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of Agriculture).

The national project in which Woori Bio is participating is a government-supported initiative aimed at domestic production of health functional food materials and expanding product lines. The goal is to develop technology to localize the expensive lutein raw materials, which are currently entirely dependent on imports.

To this end, Woori Bio plans to carry out technology development over approximately two years until 2021, investing a total of 971.7 million KRW in collaboration with Yuhan Health Life, Chung-Ang University, and Sejong University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, with the government supporting 583 million KRW of this amount.

Woori Bio will mass-produce marigold flowers of consistent quality in a super-clean environment within a natural plant factory and develop a precision cultivation system that increases the lutein content in marigold through growth environment control. A Woori Bio official stated, "By successfully completing this national project, we will develop stable mass cultivation technology and high-purity extract manufacturing technology, securing international competitiveness for high-quality lutein," adding, "We are currently developing various eye health products."

Based on closed-type plant factory technology that enables safe natural product cultivation with increased effective marker compound content, protected from climate change and external pollution, Woori Bio expanded its business to natural material development and health functional foods in March last year.

Meanwhile, the project promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture is a research and development initiative announced in February, supporting the development of core and original technologies targeting health food sectors where industrialization has already begun and markets are forming, or promising fields where domestic technology development is still insufficient.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.