Korea to Revise Food Labeling Requirements

On Oct. 22, 2015, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety of Korea (MFDS) announced the revision of important food labeling regulations, which will take effect from Jan. 22, 2016 for first-time manufactured or imported foods and will become mandatory for foods with previous manufacturing or importation history from Jan. 1, 2017.

The main changes in the new regulation are:

• The permitted error range of caffeine has been explicitly identified.

• The names of food additives should be labeled according to the generic names specified in “Food Additive Standards and Specifications”. It is prohibited to use “MSG” to replace “monosodium glutamate”.

• The labeling method for wine has been improved: rice wines produced entirely from starch are allowed to be labeled with “100% produced by starch raw materials”. The labeling of compound raw materials of alcohol and whisky essence can be omitted.

• The scope for labeling “gluten free” has been expanded. Wheat, rye, barley and related products with gluten content less than 20mg/kg can be labeled as “gluten free”.

• A unified food category reporting system has been established, which requires mandatory labeling to facilitate food recall.

• The nutritional labeling requirements have been revised. In the column “% nutrition ingredient reference value” below the “nutrition label”, the intake percentage of nutritional ingredients for specific groups of people should be identified.

• Rice cake and chocolate now require labeling of unfreezing date. The labeling of chilli powder content for chilli sauce has also become a mandatory requirement.