The program will help seniors improve their health by learning about wholesome food diet   

To prepare for 2018, when Korea enters the stage of an aged society, the program will hold 120 sessions in three rural areas 

Foodmerce will provide all food ingredients via Softmade, its food materials brand for seniors

▲ Pulmuone and Foodmerce announced on September 29, that they will officially begin the “Program for Improving Dietary Lifestyle of Seniors” to help boost the health of the elderly as Korea will pass the threshold of aged society in 2018. Seniors living in Yeonho-dong, Daeso-myeon, Eumseong-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do are enjoying a group meal service called, “Maeul Bapsang.” The foods offered were cooked with “Softmade” products, a food ingredient brand for seniors. 

Pulmuone and Foodmerce will officially launch a program for seniors under the Wholesome Foods Campaign to prepare for Korea becoming an aged society in 2018. 

Foodmerce, a food ingredient distributor, made the announcement on September 29, 2017, that it will start the “Program for Improving Dietary Lifestyle of Seniors” in 2018, which is when the senior population will exceed 14%.   

As Korea becomes an aged society (proportion of seniors aged 65+ over 14%) next year, Pulmuone and Foodmerce will include more regions as candidates for the program. They will select three farming villages where the ratio of senior is high, and provide a total of 120 sessions to help improve the dietary lifestyle of the older adults. A pilot program is currently being carried out for 24 seniors residing in Yeonho-dong, Daeso-myeon, Eumseong-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do.  

▲ A doctor of nutrition and dietetics from Pulmuone is performing basic medical check-up such as measuring blood pressure, waist size, and weight and providing nutrition counseling to seniors living in Yeonho-dong.  

The program to improve seniors’ dietary habits contains three main initiatives: ▲ Maeul Bapsang (Village Dining Table), a group meal service, ▲ nutrition counseling, and ▲ dietary lifestyle classes. Pulmuone plans and operates the program while Foodmerce supplies all the food ingredients required.  

Against this backdrop where Korea is experiencing aging at a rapid pace and reaching an aged society next year, more and more seniors and suffering from insufficient or imbalanced nutrition, and obesity due to unhealthy diet and lifestyle. Hence, Pulmuone and Foodmerce have identified that systematic education on diet must be provided to seniors. 

In the case of Foodmerce, it is in charge of supplying food materials to the core initiative, Maeul Bapsang. The products it provides belong to Softmade, a Korea’s first food ingredient brand for seniors launched in 2015. Softmade offers senior-friendly foods that are nutritionally balanced and easy to chew by classifying chewing ability depending on teeth conditions into four phases.  

Kim, Hyun-Hui, a team head in Foodmerce, explained, “It has been four months since we ran the program, and we see positive changes in the dietary lifestyle of seniors as they drink less and cut down on white rice consumption. We will build on the achievement made this year to help more seniors practice healthier diet through the program.” 

Meanwhile, Foodmerce signed a business agreement in May on “Dietary Improvement for Seniors and Meal Service Standardization” with Long Life Green Care, a silver care company for the elderly. The two companies are collaborating closely on establishing standardized meal services for older adults to better cope with the coming aged society. Also, Foodmerce signed another agreement in April with Seongnam Senior Experience Complex to jump-start the senior-friendly food industry.