Views of allulose items, produced by Samyang Corp. (Photos: Samyang Group)

Kakadu C Dark Spot Serum, launched by ABOUT ME. (Photos: Samyang Group)

Samyang Group specializes in core businesses like food, chemical, packing and medical-biology.

The group is devoting itself to promoting communications and collaboration by tearing down each department’s barriers to expedite technology convergence among businesses.

One of the group’s representative in-house convergence practices is the successful commercialization of isosorbide.

In 2014, Samyang became the first company to succeed in commercializing isosorbide, representing an example of the group’s in-house technology convergence. Isosorbide is a plant-based platform chemical from which biodegradable derivatives of various functionality can be obtained.

Isosorbide, which is of great scientific as a monomer building block for biopolymeric polycarbonates, polyesters, polyurethanes and epoxides, was first produced by Roquette, a French company which produces by-products from the starch extracted from corn, wheat, potatoes and peas. Plastics, made of isosorbide, boast strengths such as durability, heat-resisting property, and penetrability.

The chemical is enjoying popularity as a raw material for producing mobile gadgets, TV, and other home appliance outing materials, food containers, and eco-friendly construction materials.

Only two companies are capable of processing isosorbide so that it can be used for a raw material of plastics since it requires extracting of starch from plants and related chemical treatment.

Last July, Samyang Group struck a 71 billion won investment deal with Gunsan City to expand an isosorbide plant as part of efforts to venture into the industrial bio business in earnest.

Samyang Group’s efforts to promote communications and collaboration among subsidiaries have paid off. MediAnswer, a skin fit collagen eye mask, is a brand produced through collaboration among the pharmaceutical & bio business and the cosmetics business.

MediAnswer, taking advantage of the strengths of Samyang Biopharm and About Me, has released skin elasticity care products such as MediAnswer Collagen Lift-up Band.

Samyang Group is accelerating efforts to commercialize technologies by combining its own capabilities and outside technology, marketing and infrastructure. Samyang is adopting a one-stop strategy of developing raw materials and parts in the composite material segment, simultaneously through open innovation.

Samyang Group is putting all the stops to explore global markets with a focus on high-performance materials in all business sectors. Chairman Kim Yoon attached this year’s priority to tapping global markets.

He also stressed executives and staffs’ being armed with global capability and expertise and the expanding of global infrastructure.

In this regard, Samyang Corp.’s allulose obtained a GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) certificate from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), establishing groundwork to enter the global market.

Allulose is referred to as the optimal next-generation sweetener as it produces a sweet taste comparable to sugar using common figs and grapes while its calories amount to almost ‘zero.’ Although it is a rare type of sugar existing in extremely small quantities in nature, it can be mass-produced with enzyme technology.

Among the 5 companies around the world that produce allulose, Samyang Corporation is the only one that uses enzymes found in microorganisms separated from food to produce allulose and has sold it under the brand TRUSWEET since 2017.

Samyang Corp. is the first company in the world to obtain GRAS with allulose produced from enzymes found in microorganisms separated from food. GRAS is a scheme that certifies whether a product is safe to be used as a food ingredient, and a product with this certification can be used for food without any concern over safety.

As GRAS is globally accepted, Samyang Corporation is planning to target the global market with this certification starting from the United States.

In particular, US made it mandatory to indicate added sugar (sugar or syrup additionally added in food in addition to natural sugar) on food packaging from this year and excluded allulose from this requirement.

The global allulose market is expected to grow to about 130 billion by 2023.