Hyundai Green Food, a food company under the Hyundai Department Store Group, is stepping up its push to expand low-carbon menus. The company announced Sunday that it will introduce low-carbon certified pork — specifically pork hind leg — into its institutional catering operations this month, marking the first time any company in Korea's institutional catering industry has done so.
The company plans to supply 30 tons of the certified pork annually, accounting for about 10 percent of all pork hind leg it uses in institutional catering over a year. Low-carbon pork refers to pork produced at farms certified as "low-carbon livestock farms" by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation. These farms raise pigs in hygienic conditions, feed them low-protein feed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and convert farm byproducts into eco-friendly energy such as biogas. The low-carbon certification is granted only to farms that cut greenhouse gas emissions during the raising and production process by at least 10 percent below the average for conventional pork.
Hyundai Green Food has operated a "Green Day" program since 2021, offering low-carbon menus twice a month to institutional catering clients that opt in. About 600 of its roughly 650 institutional catering sites nationwide participate, with a small number of facilities such as hospitals excluded.
Starting this month, the company will offer low-carbon pork dishes at Green Day sites, including pork and garlic stem bibimbap, stir-fried pork and cabbage rice bowls, and pork ragu pasta.
"We plan to gradually increase supply volumes in line with growth in low-carbon pork production, while accelerating the development of new menu items," a Hyundai Green Food official said.
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