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Takehome:
- The Korean authority plans to implement 5 new policies to rebuild public trust related to food safety, food packages and labelling, manufacturing and processing.
- GMO marking will be expanded to cover all foods that involve artificial genetic modification or contain genetically modified proteins after manufacturing and processing.
On December 28th of 2016, the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) announced several new food and pharmaceutical policies which will be implemented in 2017. These policies will strengthen the safety management of food, drug and quasi-drugs, cosmetics and medical devices.
Major policies for food sectors are as follows:
1. To prevent chemical burns, glacial acetic acid (acetic acid content is 99% or more), products must use childproof packaging (began in January 2017) Childproof packaging is designed to protect children’s safety. Adults can open the package but children younger than 5 years old will not be able to open the product.
2. From February, the labeling requirements for genetically modified organisms (GMO) will be expanded. Currently, only foods that are made of GMO ingredient as major raw material (top 5 by concentration) will be required to mark GMO on package. After the new policy, ingredients with genetically modified DNA or genetically modified proteins remaining after manufacturing and processing will also be required to mark GMO.
3. From May, sodium content comparison indicator will be implemented.To make it convenient for consumers to select food with suitable sodium content, a sodium content comparison indicator is introduced. Sodium content of food will be marked with easy-to-read colors and shapes and will offer a comparison of sodium content between similar food types. Applicable food types include pasta (e.g. seasoned noodles, cold noodles and instant noodles), hamburger and sandwich.
4. From December, food safety management certification will be mandatory for large food manufacturers. For large food manufacturers with more than 10 billion KRW annual revenue in 2016, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) will be mandatory from December 2017.
5. From December the application scope of the “Harmful Food Sales Interception System” will be expanded. In order to protect consumers from harmful foods and to create a safe shopping environment, the authority will expand the scope of the "Harmful Food Sales Interception System" to include small-medium food stores and large food suppliers such as supermarkets and food distribution companies.
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