Jeonbuk National University's university-affiliated company 'JBNU Ham' has been selected for the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology's 2012 School-Company Support Program.

With this selection, JBNU Ham has achieved the distinction of never having been excluded from Ministry-supported programs since its establishment, confirming the excellence of its business performance.

Accordingly, JBNU Ham will receive approximately KRW 750 million in government funding over three years through 2014, enabling it to pursue its operations stably and to systematically carry out educational activities such as student field training, an important objective of a university-affiliated company.

This selection attracted more attention than ever, as over the past two years a mandatory 30% elimination was applied based on project evaluations among the 13 applicant universities.

In 2010, JBNU Ham was recognized for its industry–university–research collaboration and became the first university-affiliated company to receive the Ministerial Award from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. It has also demonstrated the excellence of its results and product quality by being selected as a Jeonju Excellent Product (Buy Jeonju) by Jeonju City, a region renowned as a center of taste in Korea.

Building on this, JBNU Ham plans to expand its industry–university–research-centered business activities and to conduct continuous R&D to produce safe, trustworthy food, thereby contributing to the development of Korea's food industry.

Currently, it produces eco-friendly processed meat products based on no color additives, no preservatives, and no MSG. It has signed supply contracts with nationwide eco-friendly food companies such as Pulmuone Co., Ltd.'s Orga Whole Foods, Daesang Co., Ltd.'s Chorokmaeul, and Hanmaeum Community Farming Cooperative Corporation, thereby establishing a national sales network.

Dong-Chul Park, Director of JBNU Ham, said, 'JBNU Ham's selection for the Ministry's School-Company Support Program again this year, following 2010, reflects recognition of our excellence in producing stable food supplies and in systematically conducting educational activities such as field training for students.' He added, 'In the first half of this year, we signed a supply contract with the Nature Dream Consumer Cooperative Alliance (ICOOP), a leading eco-friendly food cooperative, and we plan to establish ourselves as a leading brand in the domestic eco-friendly processed meat market.'