Samyang Foods

History

In the early 1970s, Samyang Foods converted a 20 km2 Daegwallyeong forest into a grassland to raise livestock.

In 2010, Jeon In Jang became the company's chairman. The company is now placed third to fourth in the instant noodle market of Korea. Samyang Foods started exporting its products, increasing the company's profits. Recently, the company took over several restaurant chains to expand into the food service industry.

In 2012, Samyang Foods released its Buldak Spicy Chicken Ramen. Kim Jung-soo is credited with developing the flavour, inspired by a lunch she had at a restaurant in Seoul. The new Buldak Spicy Chicken flavor became popular in the YouTube community.

In 2012, Samyang Foods, along with several other companies in the instant noodles market, including Nongshim, Ottogi, and Korea Yakult, were fined by the Korean Fair Trade Commission for fixing instant noodles prices from 2001 to 2010.

In 2019, Hyundai Development Co., a large shareholder of Samyang Foods with a 16.99% stake, pushed for the suspension of board directors with criminal records.

In 2019, Samyang Foods established Samyang Japan, its first overseas sales unit. This expansion was motivated by Japan's large ramen market, approximately US$5.4 billion of ramen consumption.

In 2020, Samyang Foods launched its new kimchi-flavored Buldak spicy noodles to meet consumer demand and interest in "fire noodles".

On March 19, 2021, Samyang Foods Co. announced its sales reached a new high due to the increased demand for its instant noodles during the coronavirus pandemic. Samyang Foods Co.'s operating profit increased by 21.9% over the previous year.

Samyang Ramen

Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen

Buldak Ramen

Samyang bowl and cup noodles

Legal Issues

In the 1980s, Samyang Food began producing other products such as snacks, dairy products, and sauces. The demand for instant noodles in Korea increased, followed by increasing exports to Japan and the United States. In 1989, allegations arose that Samyang used unsafe industrial oil in their noodles. Although ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing, this scandal harmed the company's reputation and contributed to ending its dominance in the instant noodle market.

In 2018, Samyang Foods Co. reached an agreement with its U.S. subsidiary, Samyang USA, to resolve a nearly US$1 billion legal battle. Samyang USA paid $4.1 million in reparations.

In 2019, the settlement of two class actions against Defendant Samyang Foods was approved by the Supreme Court of British Columbia and the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario. Terms of settlement include that Samyang Foods pay $288,586.98 in compensation.

On January 25, 2019, Samyang chairman Jeon In Jang was sentenced to prison for 3 years for embezzling $5 billion Won (US$4.43 million) of his company's funds. His wife and CEO of Samyang, Kim Jung-soo, was given a 2-year prison term, albeit suspended for 3 years, on the exact charges. Since Jeon's imprisonment, Kim has assumed her husband's leadership duties.

In June 2024, Denmark recalled three variants of Samyang's spicy ramen noodle products after the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration assessed the levels of capsaicin in a single packet to be high enough to pose a risk of the consumer developing acute poisoning. The recall was upheld for Buldak 3x Spicy Hot Chicken, the spiciest of the three, but was reversed for the other two variants a month later after an updated risk assessment by the Food Institute of the Technical University of Denmark revealed lower capsaicin levels in those variants.