The South Korean government and the ruling party have rolled up their sleeves to support the fishing industry, which has been struggling after Japan’s release of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Five catering companies - Samsung Welstory, Ourhome, CJ Freshway, Shinsegae Food, and Pulmuone Food & Culture - on Wednesday vowed to expand seafood in their meals in collaboration with the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives. A ceremony was held at the National Assembly under an initiative led by the ruling People Power Party.

Hyundai GF Holdings Co. had also signed an agreement with the federation.

Representative Sung Il-jong of the People Power Party urged companies to actively expand seafood in their meals, saying that “companies have a social responsibility.”

Major conglomerates have been in discussions with specialized catering companies to increase seafood offerings.

Hyundai GF Holdings, which is responsible for cafeteria meals at HD Hyundai, is making relevant preparations after HD Hyundai announced earlier that it will increase seafood meals by purchasing abalone and rockfish in bulk.

HD Hyundai serves approximately 55,000 meals a day across 86 company locations nationwide, including its global research and development (R&D) center in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, home to 17 subsidiaries.

Additional consumption is estimated to reach 100 tons by the end of this year.

Ourhome, which supplies meals to several major conglomerates, including LG Group affiliates, said that the company has received requests from some of its clients to expand seafood options in their workplace menus. The company is currently checking its inventory of food ingredients.

In the meantime, rockfish, one of the seafood for which the government has asked the industry to increase its purchase, has recently suffered mass deaths due to heat waves, raising concerns about supply and demand instability.

Overall seafood purchases, in the meantime, have increased slightly after the release of contaminated water.

According to Lotte Mart, sales of general seafood products, such as rockfish, abalone, and sea squirt, rose 10 percent, dried fish such as pollack and anchovies 60 percent, and dried seaweed such as laver and kelp, 80 percent between August 25 and 28 from two weeks ago before the release.

The number of vehicles visiting the Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market in northern Seoul has also increased by 37 percent last weekend from a week ago.

By Choi Jae-won, Song Kyung-eun, and Yoon Yeon-hae

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