On February 21, 2022, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) issued several amendments to Food Code1. The amendments mainly focus on the cheese definition, krill oil's specification, and residual veterinary drug test method. The details are specified as below:
1. Modifying Cheese's Definition
The food type of “natural cheese” is changed to “cheese” to keep aligned with the international standard. Its definition is modified as well. The detailed changes are marked in red:
Previous | Present |
Cheese products:
This item refers to products manufactured by adding lactic acid bacteria, milk-clotting enzyme or organic acids, etc., in raw milk or milk products to coagulate; and removing the whey therefrom. It also refers to cheese made by concentrating or heat-coagulating the whey with or without the addition of raw milk or milk products, etc.
This item refers to products manufactured by adding milk products, other food or food additives into natural cheese, and processing such natural cheese with or without emulsification. This product contains more than 18% milk solids derived from natural cheese. | Cheese products:
This item refers to products manufactured by adding lactic acid bacteria, milk-clotting enzyme or organic acids, etc., in raw milk or milk products to coagulate; and removing the whey therefrom. It contains more than 18% milk solids (excluding the milk solids which are additionally added after the coagulation process). It also refers to cheese made by concentrating or heat-coagulating the whey with or without the addition of raw milk or milk products, etc. However, products fall under the processed cheese type is not included under this item.
This item refers to products manufactured by adding milk products, other food or food additives into cheese, and processing such cheese with or without emulsification. This product contains more than 18% milk solids derived from cheese. |
The amended provisions of cheese products will enter into force on January 1, 2024.
2. Introducing New Specifications of Krill Oil
MFDS specified that the linoleic acid in krill oil should be no more than 3%. The test methods for confirming the product's quality are also newly introduced in this amendment.
In addition, MFDS newly established the specifications of krill oil to enhance food safety as the need of using krill oil in food supplements emerges.
The amendments related to Krill oil came into effect on February 21, 2022 along with the issurance of the new regulation.
3. Amending the Test Method of Residual Veterinary Drug
To more effectively conduct the test on residual veterinary drugs, MFDS optimized the test methods thereof. The details include:
a) Adding a new quantitative analysis test method that applies to 151 kinds of raw materials of livestock and fishery products.
b) Deleting repetitive test methods
c) Modifying the obscure terms and phrases.
The above modifications will be effective on July 1, 2022.
*Check other revisions of Food Code this year: South Korea Food Code Revisions Collection in 2022.
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