MFDS Minister Chung Seung
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) and Korea Livestock Products HACCP Accreditation Service (KOLPHAS) plan to require more than half of all livestock products put on the domestic market to be covered by HACCP certification by 2018 to allow companies with HACCP certificates to handle production, circulation and processing.
¡°This move allows clean, safe, quality livestock products, including milk and meats, to be put on people¡¯s table by creating an environment in which firms not certified with HACCP certification find it difficult to sell products, so substandard foods will likely disappear,¡± said MFDS Minister Chung Seung.
MFDS plans to expand HACCP certification coverage, introduce a production traceability system, and pursue the enactment of the tentatively named Special Act on Safety Management of Imported Foods to block production and circulation of substandard foods. HACCP certification will be expanded to cover milk collection starting this July. The coverage will be done in stages according to the size of companies. Milk processing plants will be required to comply with HACCP certification starting 2015 to ensure the safety of milk products.
Producers of foods for infants and toddlers will be required to implement a traceability system that can go back to production, circulation and consumption by 2017 in stages. The traceability system is expected to be mandatory for processed products like milk formulas starting in December 2015, the ministry said.