South Korea Revised Food Labeling Standard

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) of South Korea has issued Notification No. 2018 – 32 Partial Amendment to the Labeling Standards for Food. Major changes introduced in the notification are as follows:

1. Pine nut is newly subject to allergen labeling, and food products made of a single raw material are exempt from allergen indication if it is named after that allergenic raw material;

2. Whenever dangerous food additives are used, such as liquid nitrogen, liquid carbon dioxide, frozen carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, operation notes are required;

3. Words like “cookery” shall be indicated for products packaged with cooked food picture；

4. Whatever parts of ginseng except for the root are used, the part used need to be indicated;

5. The concentration of soy bean need to be indicated in Koji sauce

6. When a reconstituted food product, containing food additives, proposes to declare 100% content, the names and functions of food additives applied are required to be listed near or below the “100% content“ labeling;

7. If a product is named fully or partly after the name of raw materials or ingredients, or the general term of several ingredients (such as fruit, vegetable, seafood), their names and contents need to be listed in the most prominent labeling area.