Korea's New Imported Food Management System

To tackle Korea’s challenging food safety problems and increased importation of foods, Korea implemented the Special Law on Safety Administration of Imported Foods on the 4th of Feb 2016. Tremendous changes have been made to the previous regulations governing imported food.

The new law will be phased in gradually to ensure a seamless transition between the new and old regulatory system and ensure the continuity of Korea’s food safety environment. Similar to China’s new food safety law, Korea’s new system will place a much greater emphasis on onsite inspection in country of origin for all international manufacturers exporting to Korea through a system of scheduled audits and accreditation which will function as the major premarket approval barrier. Under the new system import of food in Korea will be subject to the following checkpoints.

Pre-market approval, audit and accreditation stage: MFDS officials will visit overseas food manufacturers and processors. Companies that refuse to be inspected or are found to have problems will be ordered to stop export to Korea immediately, asked to rectify food safety issues or implement new prevention and control measures. In addition, MFDS implements a registration system for these foreign food producers and processors prior to importation and will supervise registered enterprises through an online system.
Customs clearance stage: in order to reinforce the inspection of food safety during customs and systematically analyze compliance and safety issues at home and abroad, importers and imported foods designated as high risk will be subject to intensified examination. Meanwhile, overseas online purchasing will also be subject to intensified regulation and all ecommerce vendors should apply for business registration.
Post Market Stage: a management plan for food circulation should be formulated.

Comparison of Korea food import management before and after the Law’s Implementation

		Before implementation	After implementation
Pre-import stage	Manufacturer registration	Overseas manufacturers of processed food and agricultural products are not required to be registered; Currently, a pre-market registration system is for livestock products (30 countries) and aquatic products (6 countries).	All overseas manufacturers whose food products are exported to Korea are subject to registration prior to import; The Korean government refuses to accept import application of foods from unregistered manufacturers; Livestock products include sterilized processed products which need sanitary evaluation; in addition, the overseas workplaces should also be registered before import.
Pre-import stage	On-site inspection	Random inspection on overseas manufacturers of processed food and agricultural products are carried out but there are no relevant measures if the exporting country or the exporter refuse examination; Livestock products and aquatic products are subject to on-site inspection.	MFDS will carry out on-site inspection of all overseas food manufacturers; Punitive measure is added for refusal and failing of on-site inspection, namely no market access to Korea.
Customer clearance stage	Tired management of overseas manufacturers	The regulator doesn’t evaluate the sanitation management abilities of overseas food manufacturers. Special inspection is conducted only when the problem occurs. Oversea manufacturers and products are under precision inspection if hazardous chemicals are found.	Overseas manufacturers will receive tired management. They will be classified into three grades (excellent, general, special control) according to their sanitation control levels. The information summited for registration, history of bad import record as well as the result of on-site inspection constitutes the specific basis for grading. Companies listed as those need special control will receive centralized supervision.
Customer clearance stage	Intensive check on problematic products	The regulator conducts consistent check according to relevant standards, without considering the product property and production environment.	The occurrence of new hazardous substances and food safety incidents are taken into account to grade the manufacturers. Companies listed as those need special control will receive much more stringent supervision.
After-import circulation stage	Traceability management	implement step by step	The traceability system should be applied to the food, health functional food, livestock products (modified milk) in a phased manner from import to sales.
After-import circulation stage	Circulation management	No specific sampling and testing plan for foods on the market; the rate of random check is 5-10%.	A detailed and systematic circulation plan is required to be laid out.