Saeukkang (; also called

Shrimp Cracker Prawn crackers ( id, krupuk udang) are a deep fried snack made from starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants ...

) is a popular Korean snack produced by South Korean company

Nongshim Nongshim Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean food and beverage company headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. Nongshim was founded in 1965 under the name Lotte Food Industrial Company. The name was changed to Nongshim in 1978. The current logo was pub ...

since 1971. Saeukkang has ranked as the highest-selling snack in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

for more than 30 years and is exported to 76 countries worldwide. Around four to five

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

s are used in each standard package (90g), and the parching method is used to make Saeukkang.

History

Name

'Saeu' means shrimp in Korean. When

President

Shin Choon-ho Shin Choon-ho (; December 1930 – 27 March 2021) was a South Korean businessman who founded Nongshim. Biography Shin was born in December 1930 in Ulju County, Ulsan, Korea and was the third eldest son in the family. His older brother Shin K ...

was looking for an appropriate name for the shrimp snack, he got an idea from his daughter, who at the time incorrectly sang the Korean folk song

Arirang "Arirang" (; ) is a Korean folk song. There are about 3,600 variations of 60 different versions of the song, all of which include a refrain similar to "''Arirang, arirang, arariyo'' ()". It is estimated the song is more than 600 years old. ...

, pronouncing it 'Arikkang'.

Development

Nongshim presented Saeukkang, the first snack in South Korea. The company got ideas from the popular Japanese snack

Kappa Ebisen is a Japanese snack food produced by Calbee of Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Ja ...

made by Calbee. After reverse engineering for more than a year, as the company had to find the appropriate temperature to bring suitable strength, the company ended up burning lots of mixture of

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many c ...

s and

s. Around 360 tons of flours were used.

Sales

With the slogan ''We make our foods using our technology'', Saeukkang was highly successful after its release, which significantly helped Nongshim to grow from low market share and profits. Many trucks around Korea were gathered with deposits in front of Nongshim's factory in

Daebang-dong Daebang-dong is a '' dong'', neighbourhood of Dongjak-gu in Seoul, South Korea. History See also *Administrative divisions of South Korea South Korea is made up of 17 first-tier administrative divisions: 6 metropolitan cities (''gwang ...

to buy Saeukkang. After three months of the initial release, Saeukkang contributed to increasing Nongshim's sales by 350%. With the help of Saeukkang's success, Nongshim was able to release other successful snacks: Banana Kick in 1978, Honey Twist Snack in 1979, Potato Chip in 1980. As of 2013, Saeukkang's sales went beyond 7.5 billion packages. Saeukkang can now be found in 76 countries and stores like

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

in the United States and

Taobao Taobao () is a Chinese online shopping platform. It is headquartered in Hangzhou and is owned by Alibaba. According to Alexa rank, it is the eighth most-visited website globally in 2021. Taobao.com was registered on April 21, 2003 by Alibaba C ...

in China.

Variants

Nongshim produces different variants of Saeukkang. Other than the standard package (90g), the company introduced different sizes of Saeukkang: * Mini Saeukkang (30g) * Deluxe Saeukkang (400g). Nongshim also offers Saeukkang with different flavors: * Spicy Saeukkang * Rice Saeukkang * Sweet & Sour Chicken Saeukkang

Marketing

TV CF

Lee Jong-suk Lee Jong-suk (, born 14 September 1989) is a South Korean actor and model. He debuted in 2005 as a runway model, becoming the youngest male model ever to participate in Seoul Fashion Week. Lee's breakthrough role was in ''School 2013'' (2012). ...

, Korean actor and model advertises Saeukkan

Nongshim uses the slogan "손이 가요~ 손이 가~새우깡에 손이 가요; translation: Grab some here, grab some there. Grab shrimp crackers anywhere" since the initial release of Saeukkang. The slogan is highly successful that it still has been used in Nongshim's Saeukkang advertisement today.

Fan Clubs

There are about 100 Saeukkang fan clubs in Korea's largest portal, Naver Corporation, NAVER. These communities share the interests of Saeukkang, consisting of both younger and older generations.

Criticism

* In 2005, Criticism rose as the snack's shape and packaging looked similar to Japanese snack

. * In 2008, there was a report from a consumer that a mouse's head was found in one of Saeukkang's packaging. However,

not only concealed the report for a month before formal investigation from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in Korea(MFDS) began, but also the company did not recall their product. MFDS did research the actual conditions of product productions of Nongshim's factories in

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea ...

and Qingdao, but MFDS failed to find a connection of mouse's head into Saeukkang. * In 2010, rice worms were found in Saeukkang, and MFDS draw a conclusion that rice worms were not from product productions, but they were from processes of distribution to retail stores. * In 2019, Nongshim initially planned to stop using shrimps from Gunsan, South Korea for the production of Saeukkang due to sea pollution in Korea. As the company has been using shrimps from the United States and South Korea equally, the company claimed that the Gunsan's shrimp quality got worse unlike 48 years ago. However, from continuous protests and complaints from

Gunsan Gunsan (), also romanized as Kunsan, is a city in North Jeolla Province, South Korea. It is on the south bank of the Geum River just upstream from its exit into the Yellow Sea. It has emerged as a high-tech manufacturing industrial city and an in ...

fishermen and congress, Nongshim decided to use 10% of

shrimp with the condition of high-quality maintenance.

External links

Nongshim Saeukkang's Official Website (EN)
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References

{{reflist Snack foods Korean snack food