From baits to filial piety conquered by the world … Korea’s first packaging tofu

Plastic tofu packaging on display in the mall. Central photo.

I remember carrying a 100-won coin with my mother’s message and carrying a tofu wrapped in a black plastic bag from a local store. This memory, which all those who had spent their childhood in the 70s and 80s would have, has become something old.

Now tofu packed in a square plastic container is filling the market shelves. How did plastic packed tofu appear today? The birth of Korea’s first packaged tofu dates back to 1984.

The first Pulmuone packaged tofu in Korea (left), released in 1984. Pulmuone box

Pulmuone started in 1981 as a small vegetable store called “Pol-Mong Agricultural Products Market” that opened in Apgujeong-dong, Seoul. At the time, however, supply and demand were impossible to predict or control due to low consumer awareness of “organics” and the absence of pesticides. Finally, leftover vegetables were often discarded. After worrying, I decided to sell tofu and bean sprouts without contamination. It was a bait product to sell vegetables.

At that time, the typical popular food, tofu was cut from tofu and wrapped in newspaper or sold in black plastic bags. However, there was a hygiene problem because the newspaper ink stuck to the tofu or the shelf life is unknown.

In some cases, toxic preservatives were used to make and store tofu from imported soybeans. Soybeans and soybean oil were squeezed, the remaining bean mixture was mixed, and the quality was low. The tofu coagulant, calcium sulfate, a kind of lime, was also a social problem.

1987 The first Pulmuone plastic packaged tofu and representative products in Korea. Pulmuone frame

Pulmuone made this tofu from household soybeans and marked the manufacturer and expiration date on the packaging. It was rated to show that the quality is much better than the cheap tofu on the market.

Pulmuone’s packaged tofu was also cut at first and placed in a plastic bag containing bottled water. However, the water bag is too bulky and heavy, and can explode during transport and easily break.

After contemplating, in 1990, he developed the first square plastic container in Korea. Due to its small volume, it was able to transport more than double the tofu in the truck and the damage rate was also reduced. On site, the tofu was angled to a square, making it easy to count the water. The Pulmuone tofu that went out into the world was well received by middle-class housewives, but the problem was more than double the price of the existing tofu.

Pulmuone household bean curd. Pulmuone frame

By persuading department stores and entering, he made his way into the market with an advanced strategy. Since then, the line has diversified from luxury goods to stalls, and thanks to the popularization of the line, it has now become the strongest tofu sold at 380,000 copies per day.

Pulmuone’s tofu products accounted for about 47% of the domestic market last year (according to Nielsen). It is a representative product of Hyoja in Pulmuone. Pulmuone Tofu accounted for about 20% of the sales of Pulmuone Foods, a subsidiary of Pulmuone Co., Ltd. last year.

This support was thanks to the technology that has been constantly developed. When soy milk is hot, it develops a technology that is chilled with a bite (a coagulant) to maintain the salty taste, and thanks to the technology that eliminates pores, it does not use additives such as antifoaming or emulsifying agents.

As the last step in the process to reduce the core temperature (deep temperature) of tofu to 5 ℃ before shipment, it is managed at the 100,000 level of the country’s microbial standard. The “first” march continues. In 2006, the nation’s first “ full labeling ” was implemented in the food industry, in 2007, the first time in the chilled food industry, along with expiration date and manufacturing date, and in 2015, the first food industry certified as a carbon neutral product for two types of organic tofu.

June 1995 Pulmuone LA tofu product distribution store. Pulmuone frame

It is now the number one tofu company that has conquered the world beyond Korea. Pulmuone, which established Pulmuone USA in 1991, entered the US. USA Last year, accounting for 75.4% of the U.S. tofu market (Nilson Data, USA).

In the first entry stage, it was just a small export mainly to the Korean market, but was the result of focusing on expanding the local manufacturing and distribution base through mergers and acquisitions since the 2000s. Tofu has become popular as a ‘plant protein’ with less generation of carbon dioxide due to environmental problems.

Pulmuone Herma X Fumei Touru Tofu Daily Sundubu. Pulmuone frame

In 2014, after acquiring Asahi Food Industry, the fourth largest tofu company in 2014, it has held a record 100 billion won. In China, which entered in 2016, last year’s sales grew 48% compared to the previous year, thanks to the popularity of “Today’s Tofu”, a local company called tofu brand “Pumei Tour Foods”, co-branded with Alibaba-based HEMA.

Considering the Chinese stereotype that tofu should be bought and consumed in the morning, it was effective to change the tofu label from Monday to Sunday. A Pulmuone official said, “Now, we will firmly establish the status of the world’s # 1 tofu company and grow more as a global Lohas company.”

Reporter Chu In-young [email protected]