Muan-gun's Representative Hwangtorang Rice Wins Excellence Award Among Jeonnam's Top 10 Brands

Published 05 Jul.2023 14:33(KST)

Selected 16 Times Since 2005... Established as Jeonnam's Representative Brand

‘Hwangtorang Rice,’ the representative brand of Muan-gun, Jeollanam-do, received the Excellence Award in the Top 10 High-Quality Brand Rice of Jeollanam-do.

According to the county on the 5th, Hwangtorang Rice received the Excellence Award in 2023 following the Grand Prize in 2022, marking its 14th consecutive year and 16th time overall receiving recognition in the Top 10 High-Quality Brand Rice of Jeollanam-do.

Muan-gun's representative rice, Hwangtorang, received the Grand Prize for the Top 10 High-Quality Brand Rice last year.
[Photo by Muan-gun]

Since 2003, the Top 10 High-Quality Brand Rice of Jeollanam-do has been selected through a strict blind evaluation process. Jeollanam-do conducts preliminary assessments across 22 cities and counties and selects 15 brands for the final evaluation.

In particular, to ensure fairness in the brand rice evaluation, Jeollanam-do collaborates with six specialized institutions to randomly purchase samples from retail outlets in the market. These samples undergo rigorous testing for taste, quality, variety contamination rate, genetic testing, heavy metals, and pesticide residues to select the best rice.

In this evaluation, Muan’s ‘Hwangtorang Rice,’ cultivated in reclaimed land rich in germanium, received very high marks not only for grain quality but also for taste.

Additionally, ‘Hwangtorang Rice’ strictly manages its varieties through contract farming according to guidelines and undergoes a selection process, earning high scores in raw material cultivation, product production, and management.

Kim Kwang-hyuk, head of the Nonghyup Grain Muan Branch, emphasized, “Thanks to support from Muan-gun, Hwangtorang Rice has been upgraded to fully meet the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) standards, and we strictly adhere to the principle of ‘milling and shipping on the same day,’ so we are confident in its quality.”

Moreover, the purely domestic high-quality variety ‘Cheonhyejin Seonhyang’ was developed in collaboration with a private seed company, with variety registration and patent application completed. Efforts are continuously underway to foster a new premium brand rice and differentiate the variety for a new leap forward.

Seo Myeong-ho, director of Agricultural Policy, stated, “We will actively support communication and cooperation with cultivating farmers and rice processing centers so that Hwangtorang Rice can grow beyond a representative brand of Jeollanam-do to become the nation’s top brand.”

Besides Muan’s Hwangtorang Rice, this year’s winners of the Top 10 High-Quality Brand Rice of Jeollanam-do include the Grand Prize winner Damyang’s Daesup Malgeun Damyang Rice, the Excellence Award winner Yeonggwang’s Sagyejeori Saneunjip, and the Excellence Award winners Suncheon’s Nanwoori and Gangjin’s Premium Hopyeong.

The Encouragement Award went to Gokseong’s Baeksemi, Naju’s Wanggeoni Tamnan Rice, Hampyeong’s Nabi Rice, Jangheung’s Armi Rice, and Goheung’s Suho Cheonsa Health Rice.