Han Sang-bae, director-general at MFDS, speaks at the 2020 Government Food Safety Policy Direction Forum on Jan. 20.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) plans to shift its policy direction to people-oriented paradigms this year, rather than products, bring innovation to its food safety management system, securing food for food safety conscious people, supporting innovation-based growth, and promoting the globalization of safety standards.

In particular, the MFDS is drawing attention from the food industry because it will drastically ease safety regulations, strengthen the safety management of imported foods and remove non-tariff barriers of countries that import Korean foods.

“The new prime minister is taking the slowing down Korean economy very seriously and calls on ministries to direct all policies on economic development.

Therefore, the MFDS will actively communicate with the public to push ahead with a policy that satisfies both the Korean people and business community in 2020,” said Han Sang-bae, director-general of the Food Safety Policy Bureau at a presentation about policy direction in 2020.

The 2020 Government Food Safety Policy Direction Forum. (Photos: MFDS)

The forum was held at the Korea Food Industry Association.

This year, the MFDS will enhance its food safety management system by focusing on upgrading the system in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

“Based on the internet of things (IoT) technology, we will expand the introduction of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) System that automatically record and manage CCP monitoring in real time, and advance the Traceability System based on blockchain technology for GMOs among others,” Han continued.

In addition, the MFDS will boost efficiency in its safety management such as building the K-RISS System not only to automatically select risky foods and intensively inspect them in the whole distribution cycle of imported foods by utilizing big data but also to predict potential issues by analyzing overseas risky food information, the results of the collection and inspection of risky foods and negative side effect information.

The MFDS will also focus on strengthening livestock product safety management. “In the second half of this year, we will expand the Residual Inspection System on antibiotics for milk and fishery products among others from agricultural products, meat and eggs, to aquatic products and dairy products, and make the Egg-Selective Packaging System (April) and the application of the HACCP System to the Meat Packaging Business (December),” Han added.

“In addition, in order to protect safety in the manufacturing, processing, importing, and consumption processes, we will make it obligatory to apply the HACCP System to children’s favorite foods for companies with annual sales of less than 100 million won will be mandated by the end of this year,” said Han.

In order to preemptively respond to consumption trends, the MFDS will strengthen the management and supervision of mass-consumed foods such as home meal replacements (HMRs), hamburger patties which became controversial and delivery foods placed on blind spots in sanitary supervision and prepare hygiene guidelines on new distribution types such as unmanned convenience stores and cafes.

Above all, the MFDS will support innovation-based growth through rational deregulation and give companies strong momentum in export by harmonizing food safety regulations among countries.

“We will promote the One Asia Projector such as the harmonization of criteria, standards, the HACCP System and the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Certification System and the expansion of bilateral consultation and cooperation in public development and will take the lead in building an international food safety regulation frame by adopting international standards on Codex antibiotic resistance management,” Han said.

“Beginning in March of this year, the government will tentatively implement a national certification system that directly proves the safety and functionality of exported food.

“The MFDS are drastically easing regulations in many sectors,” Han said. “I ask people to actively participate in or cooperate with our new policies and projects.”