Request a Demo
In notification No.91/2018 published on Nov.14, Ministry of Health announced the addition and revision of 314 MRL criteria in total, and formulated test methods for acetochlor and 4 other pesticides.
| Pesticide name | |
| Newly added | (for more detail, email to ChemLinked for translation service) |
| Revised | |
| Revised | Acetochlor, Pyraziflumid, Florpyrauxyfen-benzyl, Sedaxane, Tridemorph |
Brief Introduction to PLS
In 2015, Korea Food and Drug Administration introduced PLS
On, Dec. 31, 2016, PLS became effective in partial agri-food sector — nuts (coffee bean, almond etc.) and tropical fruits (mango, banana etc.);
On Feb. 2, 2018, MFDS promised full implementation since 2019.
All the imported agri-food products to Korea will be subject to PLS. For pesticides without corresponding MRLs, their residue shall be below a common standard of “0.01mg/kg”. For pesticides do not cause residue or do negligible damage to human body, MFDS drafted an exemption list (download document in English). However, PLS is not applicable to agricultural products that are viewed as both food and drug (download document in Chinese).
Currently (before 2019), if some pesticides are used in food production but are not covered by PLS, the following cases are acceptable:
Be compliant with CODEX;
Be compliant with pesticide lowest usage requirements for similar agricultural products or similar pesticides.
Korea Imported Agri-food Market
South Korea is a country highly dependent on imported agricultural products. Statistics presented by KFDA show the overall growth trend of imported food and imported agricultural products from the world in the past years.
| Year | Import volume (unit) | Growth rate* (%) | weight (kilotons) | Growth rate*(%) | Value (million $) | Growth rate* (%) |
| 2012 | 474,648 | ▲0.3 | 15,837dun | ▲0.1 | 21,333 | ▲0.8 |
| 2013 | 494,242 | ▲4.1 | 15,541 | ▽1.9 | 21,552 | ▲1.0 |
| 2014 | 554,177 | ▲12.1 | 16,358 | ▲5.3 | 23,111 | ▲7.2 |
| 2015 | 598,082 | ▲7.9 | 17,064 | ▲4.3 | 23,295 | ▲0.8 |
| 2016 | 625,443 | ▲4.6 | 17,260 | ▲1.2 | 23,438 | ▲0.6 |
| SN | Exporting country | Import volume (unit) | Weight (kilotons) |
| 1 | China | 22,108 | 881 |
| 2 | US | 11,256 | 2,746 |
| 3 | Philippines | 4,046 | 377 |
| 4 | Vietnam | 2,335 | 156 |
| 5 | Chile | 2,045 | 51 |
| 6 | Brazil | 1,322 | 807 |
| 7 | Australia | 1,197 | 1,271 |
| 8 | Canada | 1,036 | 235 |
| 9 | Peru | 1,028 | 25 |
| 10 | Columbia | 941 | 25 |
| 11 | India | 832 | 54 |
| 12 | New Zealand | 802 | 46 |
| 13 | Belgium | 590 | 27 |
| 14 | Ecuador | 385 | 27 |
| 15 | France | 135 | 76 |
| 16 | Russia | 112 | 897 |
| 17 | Serbia | 40 | 92 |
| 18 | Paraguay | 25 | 163 |
| 19 | Argentina | 20 | 101 |
| 20 | Ukraine | 18 | 55 |
| SN | Category | Import volume (unit) | Weight (kilotons) |
| 1 | coffee | 5,290 | 143 |
| 2 | banana | 2,784 | 336 |
| 3 | carrot | 2,554 | 101 |
| 4 | orange | 2,406 | 150 |
| 5 | chili(frozen) | 1,975 | 200 |
| 6 | grape | 1,560 | 49 |
| 7 | pineapple | 1,222 | 70 |
| 8 | soybean/dry | 668 | 1,267 |
| 9 | maize/food | 641 | 2,239 |
| 10 | onion | 617 | 44 |
| 11 | barley (ale malt) | 508 | 158 |
| 12 | sesame | 481 | 69 |
| 13 | kiwi fruit | 463 | 31 |
| 14 | wheat (for mill grind) | 413 | 1,631 |
| 15 | wheat (food) | 404 | 969 |
| 16 | potato | 110 | 33 |
| 17 | rice (coarse and brown) | 108 | 295 |
| 18 | cassava (dry) | 41 | 83 |
| 19 | rice (polished round-grained) | 31 | 37 |
| 20 | barley | 25 | 33 |
We provide full-scale global food market entry services (including product registration, ingredient review, regulatory consultation, customized training, market research, branding strategy). Please contact us to discuss how we can help you by 
