'Healthy Grains' Multigrain... Lotte Mart Increases Trust by Standardizing Varieties

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] As the demand for domestic mixed grains increases, Lotte Mart is introducing products with unified varieties and origins, starting with stores in the metropolitan area such as Junggye and Guri branches.

According to Lotte Mart on the 24th, the sales composition ratio of domestic mixed grains among all mixed grains was 79.4% in 2018 and increased by 5 percentage points to 84.0% in 2019. From January to July this year, sales of domestic mixed grains accounted for 82.5% of all mixed grains.

Generally, mixed grains are sourced from multiple regions, making it difficult to verify specific origins and varieties beyond being domestic. However, Lotte Mart is proposing taste differences by unifying the origin and variety of mixed grains and disclosing them on the packaging to offer fresh food that customers can trust and consume with confidence.

First, Lotte Mart is unifying varieties of domestic mixed grains such as glutinous rice, brown rice, glutinous brown rice, and black rice. Representative products include glutinous rice of the Dongjinchal variety known for its excellent stickiness, glutinous brown rice of the Baekokchal variety which maintains stickiness longer and has milky white grains, brown rice of the Samgwang variety selected by the Rural Development Administration, and Shinto black rice. In addition to rice and brown rice, other mixed grains such as seoritae (black soybeans) and sorghum have unified origins to enhance the reliability of raw materials.

Representative products include Boseong Chalbarley grown on fertile land along the Boseong River, Goe-san Seoritae which matures firm grains in the region with large temperature differences, Yeongwol Glutinous Sorghum cultivated in the clean area of Gangwon Province known for its excellent taste, and Jeju Millet Rice grown in the pristine sea environment of Jeju, rich in nutrients.

These products clearly indicate the variety and origin on the packaging, allowing customers to trust and purchase with confidence, as well as select mixed grains according to their personal preferences. Currently, Lotte Mart operates domestic mixed grains with unified varieties and origins in 42 stores and plans to expand to all stores in the future.

Kim Woo-jin, Lotte Mart’s Mixed Grains MD (Merchandiser), said, “By unifying the origin and variety of domestic mixed grains, we aim to provide customers with trustworthy mixed grains while promoting mutual growth with mixed grain farming communities.” He added, “We expect customers to enjoy fresh mixed grains tailored to their tastes through the usage suggestions and appropriate mixing ratios indicated on the packaging.”

Meanwhile, Lotte Mart has incorporated eco-friendly elements by using water-soluble adhesive labels that can be easily removed during the recycling process of domestic mixed grain containers and including phrases encouraging proper separation and disposal to consider the environment.

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