The rapid increase in the elderly population is driving the rapid growth of the 'care food' market. Care food refers to meals that include necessary nutrients for individuals such as the elderly or patients who require special nutritional support. Recently, as interest in health has increased across all age groups, care food is evolving into 'customized health food' that considers individual health conditions such as metabolic disease management and weight control.

According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation on the 13th, the domestic care food market size expanded from approximately KRW 700 billion in 2014 to over KRW 2 trillion in 2020, and it is projected to grow to KRW 3 trillion by 2025. As customized health diets emerge as a mainstay of the 'well-aging' market, the food service and food industries are competitively launching related products and services.

Hyundai Green Food has introduced a specialized care food restaurant for the elderly, 'Greeting Wells,' and is actively entering the market. This product provides various care food solutions to ensure safe consumption not only for the general elderly but also for seniors with chronic diseases. It is designed with high-protein ingredients such as meat and fish, considering the characteristics of the elderly who may have weakened teeth or chewing functions, leading to insufficient protein intake.

Hyundai Green Food has also introduced an AI-based customized nutrition counseling service at group catering sites. The self-developed solution ‘GreetingX’ is an AI nutrition counseling system developed based on Naver's generative AI ‘HyperClovaX,’ providing personalized nutrition counseling services to employees of group catering client companies who wish to participate.

Ourhome is responsible for managing the health of client company employees using in-house cafeterias through the personalized health management solution ‘247 Ourfit.’ Launched in 2023, 247 Ourfit is a program that offers personalized health management solutions based on data such as health check-up results, with cumulative users reaching 230,000 by August. Recent analysis of users' physical index changes showed that 73% of all users experienced positive improvements in major health indicators such as body fat, muscle mass, and blood pressure.

CJ Freshway is accelerating the expansion of its care food specialized brand ‘Healthy Nuri,’ launched in 2015. It has expanded its service range to include a nutrition management program that provides senior-customized health diet consulting. In June, it signed a business agreement with Seojin Food, a company specializing in mobile catering for elderly care facilities, to provide comprehensive care food solutions to mobile catering facilities.

Pulmuone Food & Culture, a food service specialist, has introduced a 'sustainable dietary experience meal program' at its contract catering sites. The experience meal is based on the 'reverse 211 meal method,' which consists of vegetables, protein, and whole grains in a 2:1:1 ratio. This encourages the consumption of a variety of nutrients such as dietary fiber, protein, and phytochemicals by promoting eating habits that start with vegetables to moderate blood sugar changes.

An industry official stated, “The demand for customized diets is rapidly increasing not only among the elderly but across all age groups interested in health,” adding, “It will evolve into a personalized life care solution based on individual health data.”

Popular News