K-Pet Food Goes High-Tech: Wooriwa Opens Large Pet Food Research Lab in Magok
Creatrip Team
2 months ago
Wooriwa, a domestic pet food company, opened the 1,150㎡ Wooriwa Pet Food Research Lab in Magok, Seoul, aiming to develop ‘K‑pet food’ tailored to Korean companion animals. The lab houses seven specialized rooms—including a grinding & mixing room, sensory room, ICP and GC/LC analysis labs, a chamber room for stability testing, and a pilot room with an extruder (feed‑manufacturing equipment) —allowing end‑to‑end research from raw‑material evaluation to processing and quality and safety analysis. The facility, staffed by 13 researchers (many with master’s or PhDs), lets scientists test recipes at pilot scale (1/200 of a production kitchen) so findings can translate into marketable products. Wooriwa stresses that Korean pets often differ from Western pets in breed diversity and indoor activity levels, so locally optimized formulas are needed. The company already operates a large production site called “pet food kitchen” and exports to several Asian countries; it plans further expansion to Latin America, Russia and the Middle East, and targets KRW 300 billion in exports by 2030. Lawmakers and animal‑welfare groups attended the opening; one suggested halal pet food for Middle Eastern markets. (Pet humanization: growing trend of treating companion animals as family)
