E-Mart Inc.’s frozen hash browns, being sold under its private label brand (PB), No Brand, are seeing growth, with 1.52 billion won ($1.2 million) in sales last year, up 35.7 percent from a year before, continuing its viral popularity that started during the Covid pandemic in late 2020.

The frozen food product was one of the top three imports from Europe by the big box store for its in-house products in terms of import value as of last year. Priced at 2,980 won for a 640-gram bag, it is about 60 percent cheaper than a similar product from another food company. “It is a perfect snack for kids and adults alike. It consistently appears on the must-try lists of our PB products on Instagram or other social media platforms,” said an E-Mart official.

The success of the frozen potato snacks can be traced back to 2019, when E-Mart’s No Brand forged a partnership with Agristo NV, the largest frozen potato product manufacturer in Europe, after a food fair held in Cologne, Germany. Headquartered in Belgium, Agristo exports to some 130 countries and has more than 470 business partners worldwide.

Compared with Korean potatoes with high water content, European potatoes have a low water content, making them suitable for frying, and their yellow color makes them look appetizing when made into hash browns or French fries.

The Belgian company processes up to 800 tons of potatoes daily at its facilities. The process involves sorting, cleaning, dividing, cutting, and packaging, and the meticulous process at the facilities to ensure better quality certainly impressed E-Mart officials. Each day, potatoes of even color and shape from 27 different European regions arrive at the company’s plant in Wilsbeeke, Belgium.

Sugar content is also a key factor when sorting potatoes. If the sugar content is too high, the potatoes will turn brown instead of yellow when fried. “If the potato is brown when fried, it’s not a good potato. A good potato has the right sugar content and should fry consistently yellow,” said an official at Agristo.

Washed potatoes are peeled using heat and pressure. The peeling process sometimes leaves black spots on the surface of the potato, which are detected by a camera on top of the processing machine and sent to a separate lane to be cut out.

Once potatoes are processed and packed, each package include the precise time up to seconds they came out of the factory. Part of them is labeled with a code number as samples, so as to resolute any potential customer complaint in the future. These samples are kept for one year.

Transformed into hash browns within a mere 24 hours, potatoes are transported for about an hour to Antwerp, Belgium’s largest port. After a 45-day journey from Antwerp, they finally arrive in Korea to meet the consumers here.

By Hong Sung-yong and Chang Iou-chung

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]