South Korea Revises the Labelling Standards for Health Functional Foods

Health functional foods manufactured by a third party on behalf of another company must include the designation "OEM products" on the product label. The legislative basis of the Health Functional Food Labeling Standards was changed from the Health Functional Foods Acts into the Korean Food Labeling and Advertising Act.

On June 7th, 2019, MFDS released the Notice No. 2019-45 ^[1]and publicized the revision of Health Functional Foods Labelling Standards. The release of the notice also marks the beginning of the revision of Korean Food Labeling and Advertising Act.

Main Content of the Revision

Rules which have already been specified in Korean Food Labeling and Advertising Act have been deleted. Terminology and expressions have been revised
The legislative basis changed from Health Functional Foods Acts ^[2] into Korean Food Labeling and Advertising Act ^[3]
New labeling requirements have been added requiring that products manufactured by an OEM must be labeled. The products shall be labeled "OEM Products" in a position on the label after the place of origin. E.g. Place of Origin: Germany (OEM Products)

Status Quo of Laws and Regulations Related to Food Labeling and Advertising

Along with the implementation of Korean Food Labeling and Advertising Act on March 14th, 2019, some of its subordinate regulations have been revised including the Labelling Standards for Health Functional Foods.

However, many of the subordinate regulations are still pending revision, which poses an issue for companies regarding regulatory compliance under the newly amended framework. Thankfully, Korea's government has started the revision of its major subordinate regulations, and we'll see the revision of other subordinate regulations later, such as the labeling standards for GM products, Allergen Labelling Standard in future.

Here's the summary of updated laws and subordinate regulations of Korean Food Labeling and Advertising Act:

Feature	Laws/Regulations	Updated Date	Effective Date	Link
Act	Korean Food Labeling and Advertising Act	March 13, 2018	March 14, 2019	Click
Enforcement Decree	Enforcement Decree of Korean Food Labeling and Advertising Act	March 14, 2019	March 14, 2019	Click
Enforcement Rules	Enforcement Rules of Korean Food Labeling and Advertising Act	April 25, 2019	April 25, 2019	Click
Subordinate regulations (Administrative rules)	Labeling Standards for Foods	Dec. 19, 2018	Jan. 1, 2022	Click
	Standards of Objection Applications to Food Labeling and Advertisement Deliberations	Mar. 22, 2019	Mar. 22, 2019	Click
	Regulation on the Management of the Advisory Council for Food Labeling	Mar. 22, 2019	Mar. 22, 2019	Click
	Labeling Standard and Method for Relative Comparison of Sodium Content	April 29, 2019	Jan. 1, 2022	Click (used to be the subordinate regulation of Food Sanitation Act)
	Labeling method of beef and pork and meat cuts standard	May 1, 2019	May 1, 2019	Click (used to be the subordinate regulation of Livestock Products Sanitation Control Act)
	Health Functional Foods Labelling Standards	June 5, 2019	June 5, 2019	Click (used to be the subordinate regulation of Health Functional Foods Act)

More Information about Health Functional Food