Abalone, Nutritious Fishery Products Getting More Spotlight in the COVID-19 Era

In the age of COVID-19, as people have paid more attention to health, abalone, a representative nutritious food to strengthen immunity and recover energy, has got more spotlight. Abalone was recognized as luxurious marine products that only the rich could eat, but it has been established as national food that consumers can easily purchase and enjoy in a close market or in an online mall, not in a producing area, by reasonable pricing through the development of the farming technology in the 2000s and the advancement of the distribution system.

In addition, an increasing number of consumers have purchased live abalone and a variety of abalone processed products through home shopping or online malls with the spread of the untact culture in the pandemic age. We met YOOSUNG LEE, the representative of WANDO ABALONE Co., Ltd, which has made efforts to popularize Wando abalone while keeping pace with such a period trend and consumers’ consumption trend.

 

Wando Abalone Corporation, the Korean Largest Abalone Company Established by 1,200 Fishermen and Wando-gun

Wando Abalone Co, Ltd, located at Wando-eup, Wando-gun, Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea is the abalone company established in 2009 which produces and distributes live abalone and abalone processed products. About 1,200 fishermen and the local government Wando-gun made an investment together and established the company in 2009 in order to improve the conventional distribution structure which put serious burdens on producers in the producing area.

It has performed the integrated management of all processes for Wando Abalone from the growth and development, production and shipment to distribution, helped producers continuously produce high-quality abalone by keeping the lowest delivery cost unchanged and provided best-quality abalone to consumers at a low cost by minimizing a distribution process.

Since the largest abalone processing plant in South Korea was completed in 2015, it has actively exported a variety of abalone processed products such as abalone cans, frozen products, etc. to foreign countries and has led the popularization of Wando Abalone by developing a variety of products which can meet the changing needs of customers including convenience food, etc. in the domestic market. Its annual sales have rapidly grown sicne establishment, reaching 51.2 billion won last year. It has mainly exported them to overseas Chinese people living in Southeast Asia including Japan, U.S.A., Singapore, etc. and has made constant efforts to expand markets to Canada.

 

 

△ Outside View of Wando Abalone Co., Ltd

Frozen Boil-cooked Abalone with the Freshness and Flavor of Live Abalone

Wando is a main producing area which accounts for 80% of abalone production in South Korea, so when you think of abalone, you naturally come up with Wando and when you think of Wando, you naturally come up with abalone. Wando forms a rias coast composed of 256 small and large islands and its bottom is made of elvan, so the tidal current is active. Thanks to it, the sea is rich in minerals and inorganic substances for all seasons and sea mustard and kelp growing up eating them are also of best quality. The representative explained that because such sea mustard and kelp are food for Wando abalone, abalone is healthy and nutritious.

The frozen boil-cooked abalone with K·FISH certification is a product that fresh live abalone is cleaned, decorticated, boil-cooked and rapidly frozen after removing internal organs and teeth. Wando Abalone Co., Ltd has the proton cooling technology, a new technology for quick freezing, which reduces the loss of juice and keeps its meat quality by preventing food cells from being destroyed by cooling. When defrosting it, you can enjoy it with freshiness, flavor and texture close to those of live abalone.

 

 

△ Boil-cooked Frozen Abalone with K·FISH Certification and Boil-cooking Process

Systematic and Thorough Supply ‧ Processing ‧ Distribution System

WANDO ABALONE Co., Ltd, the Korean largest abalone company, has the best system covering all processes of supply ‧ processing ‧ distribution. The annual abalone production in South Korea reaches 20,000t, of which Wando produces about 17,000t, of which 10%, 1,700t are produced and distributed by Wando Abalone Co., Ltd. As it airlifts and distributes the overwhelming quantity, it has a wide spectrum of sizes and quality of abalone and can stably supply it through fishermen.

On the other hand, Wando Abalone Co., Ltd has 25 smart water tanks which can manage the freshness of abalone best, which is the company’s strength because abalone loses its commercial value the moment it dies. The smart water tanks manage abalone by dividing it per water temperature, size, class, etc. and each water tank can have about 1.7t and about 40t in totality. All products are hygienically processed with best-quality abalone managed in this smart water tank. The finished products are distributed all over the country through the cold-chain system to deliver the taste and freshness of Wando Abalone to consumers.

“In Wando, abalone has a great influence on the industry. If we, the representative Abalone distribution company, fail to provide consumers with food that they can eat without anxiety, our activities have a strong influence enough that Wando’s image itself is damaged. Becuase reliability on abalone distributed by our company is very significant, we should have the well-organized system and honestly produce uniformly high-quality products, which is a core value of company operation.”

 

 

△ Smart Water Tank to Keep Abalone Fresh

 

 

△ Sanitary Abalone Processing Facility and Processing Process

Protection of Ecosystem and Coexistence with Fishermen with Sustainable Fishing

In this context, Wando Abalone Co., Ltd has a variety of certifications for food safety management. It acquired domestic and foreign representative certifications such as HACCP certification, ISO22000, HALLAL certification and obtained ASC-COC certification in step with the tend of the international society pursuing the sustainable fishing. The ASC-COC certiciation is granted to a company which can distribute abalone produced by fishermen with the ASC-MSC certification who minimize the destruction of the environment and implement the sustainable fishing business. The representative said that the company’s goal is to expand export markets with these certifications and coexist fishermen for a long time with the sustainable fishing.

 

 

△ All Kinds of Certifications of Wando Abalone Co., Ltd

Plan to Make Continuous Efforts for Abalone Popularization ‧ Globalization

A project on which Wando Abalone Co., Ltd has recently focused is to expand domeestic and foreign sales channels by developing products which target the tastes of domestic consumers as well as the needs of overseas buyers in pace with a consumption trend. Finally, it comes down to boosting consumption by widely spreading the taste and superiority of Wando abalone and promoting industrial development and stabilization of livelihood of Wando fishermen through the popularization and globalization of Wando abalone.

 

 

△ R&D Room of Wando Abalone Co., Ltd

 

 

△ Various Product Families of Wando Abalone Co., Ltd

“We have an outstanding ability to produce products suitable for the needs of buyers. We are ready to develop and process products in various parts such as a cutting size, a degree of boiling, a degree of cleansing, etc. for abalone, exchange samples and show the best products buyers want. In parallel with the development of high value-added processed products, we will make ceaseless efforts to let the world know the excellence of Wando abalone and increase the profits of fishermen based on the K·FISH certification we acquired this time.”

■ Information on Wando Abalone Co., ,Ltd

△ CI of Wando Abalone Co., ,Ltd

▷ Address : 11, Nonggongdanji 8-gil, Wando-eup, Wando-gun, Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea
▷ Inquiry : Tel.061-555-3600 Fax.061-555-3604
▷ E-mail : wando1577@naver.com
▷ Homepage : www.wakorea.kr

※ Office in Seoul
▷ Address : #B-2208, 606, Seobusaet-gil, Geumcheon-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea (Daesung Dpolis)
▷ Inquiry : 1577-8855
▷ E-mail : wando1577@naver.com

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In the age of COVID-19, as people have paid more attention to health, abalone, a representative nutritious food to strengthen immunity and recover energy, has got more spotlight.