Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Seeks Food Companies to Develop 15 New Powdered Rice Products

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] The government is recruiting food companies to develop new products to revitalize the garu-ssal (rice flour) industry.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 16th that it is seeking rice and wheat processing companies that wish to develop new garu-ssal products or produce products by partially replacing or mixing wheat flour with garu-ssal. The usage record of rice flour or wheat flour must be at least 100 tons per year on average (in 2021 or 2022).

The garu-ssal product development support project assists food companies that want to develop new products in 15 product categories such as noodles, bread, and snacks made from garu-ssal. Each company can participate in the development of up to two product categories.

If selected as a project target, companies can receive support of up to 200 million KRW per product category (80% national funding, 20% self-funding) for costs related to raw material purchase, product development, design, packaging development, prototype production, consumer evaluation, and promotion. If developing two products, the maximum support limit per company is 320 million KRW (160 million KRW national funding x 2 products).

Applications are open from today until the 3rd of next month. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs plans to select the final candidates by comprehensively evaluating the submitted project applications and plans based on development goals, wheat flour replacement effect, commercialization potential, and research capability.

Jeon Hanyeong, Director of Food Policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, "The government will continue to provide multifaceted support to create a sustainable garu-ssal industry ecosystem, from production to distribution, processing, promotion, and export, to revitalize the garu-ssal industry."

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