MFDS Advocating the Manufacturing of Nutritious Children’s Favorite Foods

According to an MFDS report ^[1] released on Sept. 23rd, the government will hold an online exhibition for Children’s favorite foods from September 24th to October 31st to advocate the manufacturing, processing, circulation and sales of safe and nutritionally balanced Children’s favorite food so as to prevent obesity and malnutrition.

All the 63 products showcased in the exhibition have got MFDS’s Children’s favorite food quality certificate. Here’s the basic introduction to this quality certificate released by MFDS.

Major Scope of Children’s Favorite Food (reference: Food Safety Korea ^[2])

Law Basis

1. Children’s diet Safety Management Code ^[3]

• Article 14 (Quality certificate standard and labeling)

• Article 15 (Application and review of quality certificate)

• Article 16 (Validity period of the quality certificate: 3 years)

2. Quality Certificate Authentication Standard of Children’s Favorite Food (KFDA Notice No. 2017-93 ^[4])

*On August 16, MFDS released a consultation draft ^[5] of this standard and opened public consultation to get feedback on the new revisions. Opinions shall be submitted prior to Oct. 15th, 2019.

Compulsory Requirements Stipulated in the Quality Certificate Authentication Standard

•  Safety standard

• Food produced under HACCP system

• Food passed the “pre-confirmation based registration of import foods” (View more at Article 19, Food Sanitation Act ^[6])

• Food produced by excellent or exemplary enterprises (View more at Article 47, Food Sanitation Act ^[6])

• Nutrition standard

b) For other snacks:

Calorie less than 250 kcal, saturated fat less than 4 g, sugar less than 17g in one serve size

c) For snacks that can replace a meal: 

Calorie less than 500 kcal, saturated fat less than 4g, sodium content less than 17g in one serve size. Besides the snacks shall also comply with 2 items of the following nutrient requirements below. (*Vitamin A and Vitamin B1 can be considered as 2 items, so do minerals like Calcium and iron.)

• Food additive standard

• It’s prohibited to use edible tar pigment and synthetic preservation when producing Children’s favorite food.

• Other prohibited synthetic chemical substances, e.g. sodium nitrite, sodium nitrate and calcium nitrate are prohibited to be used in fish sausage; Mono Sodium Glutamate is prohibited to be used in instant cup noodles, etc.

Steps to Apply for the Quality Certificate

• Overall procedures

• Application:

  Manufacturers and overseas manufacturers shall submit the application to MFDS (procedure fee: 50000 South Korea Won, about 41 US dollars)

• Review:

  MFDS director will review the application to see whether it conforms to safety standards

• Authentication:

  MFDS will release the certificate if the product is compliant. And manufacturers can use the certificate logo as labeling and can advertise its certificate

• Application procedures

1. Copies of HACCP certificate or certificate of pre-confirmation registration

2. Copy of product manufacturing report (including raw material’s name and content proportion)

3. Document copy of quality inspection result

4. Other certification and document that can prove that the product is qualified to get the quality certificate approval

Attachment: Brief analysis of the exhibited products