[Updated] South Korea to Enhance the Safety Control on Animal Products Importation

South Korea released a draft revision of the Allowed Countries (Regions) and Hygiene Requirements for Imported Livestock Products. Hygiene requirements for imported animal-based food is established. Countries where animal-based food imports are permitted is listed. Ostrich meat and eggs are specified as animal-based food.

Updates on June 14, 2024:

This article was originally published on April 16, 2024. The modifications proposed in the draft are officially included in the Regulation Allowed Countries (Regions) and Hygiene Requirements for Imported Livestock Products as revealed by the authority on June 13, 2024. The revised regulation is effective on June 14, 2024.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) announced that starting June 14 this year, the import hygiene evaluation system, which was previously applied to livestock products, will be expanded to cover animal-based foods. Through a six-step evaluation process, the safety of these products will be verified and certified by the exporting country's government before being provided to consumers, which strengthens safety management.

Background information

Animal-Based Food

It refers to food items (excluding livestock products) such as pork cutlets, chicken tenders, chicken skewers, etc., that have a low meat content (less than 50%).

Import Hygiene Evaluation

This is a system in which the exporting country's government evaluates the overall hygiene management practices to determine whether the export of livestock products to South Korea is allowed. The evaluation process consists of six steps, including document review, on-site inspection, determination of import approval, establishment of import hygiene requirements, agreement on hygiene certificates, and registration of foreign establishments.

To facilitate the implementation of the animal-based food import hygiene evaluation, on April 12, 2024, MFDS released a draft revision of the Allowed Countries (Regions) and Hygiene Requirements for Imported Livestock Products¹ for public feedback until May 2, 2024.

Key points of the proposed revision include:

1. Establishing Hygiene Requirements for Imported Animal-Based Food

MFDS intends to establish hygiene requirements that exporting governments and overseas manufacturers of animal-based food must comply with. For example, the raw materials for animal-based food should be sourced from healthy animals and deemed suitable for consumption based on inspection results from the exporting country's government. Overseas manufacturers should operate food safety management programs such as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP).

2. Listing the Countries Where Animal-Based Food Imports Are Permitted

Similar to livestock products, animal-based food will only be allowed to be imported from countries listed by MFDS in the regulation. According to the draft, countries that have completed the import hygiene evaluation for livestock products will be automatically registered as eligible for importing animal-based food, which facilitates expedited customs clearance.

Expressly, “processed products containing meat” are permitted to be imported from 31 countries. “Products containing eggs” are allowed from 16 countries. Besides, New Zealand is approved for exporting ostrich meat, while Australia is approved for exporting ostrich eggs to South Korea.

3. Specifying Ostrich Meat and Eggs as Animal-based Food

To strengthen food safety control, the Korean authority proposed to designate "meat and eggs of ostrich" as animal-based food. Thus, they will be subject to import hygiene evaluation before importation.