Food Manufacturing Product Reports, Self-Quality Testing and Hygiene Training in Korea — Duties After Registration

A food manufacturing and processing business (식품제조·가공업) is registered with the city, county or district head under the Food Sanitation Act. After registration it must file a manufacturing report for each product, test its products on a fixed cycle, and every year complete hygiene training and health checks and report its production results. It is a registration business, not a permit business, so the registering office (the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for liquor) is the contact point.

Initial steps and facility standards are covered in our food manufacturing registration guide, and management after HACCP certification in our HACCP post-certification guide.

Product manufacturing reports and change reports

To make a food, a registered business reports each product to the registering office before production starts or within 7 days after it starts. If production is outsourced, the business that commissions it files the report.

1. Fix the product name, food type, ingredients and mixing ratios.
2. Prepare a description of the manufacturing method and a statement of reasons for the use-by period.
3. Submit the product manufacturing report before production or within 7 days after it starts.
4. If the name, reported ingredients or ratios, or the use-by period (extension) change, file a change report within the same window.

Failing to report, or reporting falsely, is subject to an administrative fine. Changes made only to produce food for export are excluded.

Self-quality testing cycles and records

The business tests whether its food meets the standards, either itself or through a designated testing body. Testing is done per product, or per food type where the same items apply, and the cycle runs from the day the product was first made.

Food group (examples)	Cycle
Confectionery, candy, rice cakes, chocolate, jam, tofu, noodles, fermented sauces, pickles and similar	At least once every 3 months
Bread, foods containing meat or eggs, some beverages such as fruit and vegetable drinks, carbonated drinks and soy milk, perilla oil	At least once every 2 months
Other foods	At least once every 1 month (6 months for liquor)
Announced food poisoning risk periods	3-month items monthly, 2-month items every 15 days, 1-month items weekly

Test records are kept for 2 years. If in-house testing shows a possible hazard, it must be reported to the Ministry without delay. Selling food known to fail can lead to cancellation of the registration at the 1st violation, and skipping testing entirely means a 1-month product manufacturing suspension. A HACCP-certified site that scores 90% or more in its evaluation can be exempted from self-quality testing.

Hygiene training, health checks and production reports

Food manufacturers take 3 hours of food hygiene training every year (8 hours before opening). If the owner does not work on site or runs 2 or more sites, a designated staff member may attend instead, and untrained staff may not be put to work.

Owners and staff who handle food directly get a health check before starting work, then every 1 year within 30 days before or after the expiry date. Last year's production results are reported through the registering office by the end of February.

• Production, work and ingredient records: keep for 3 years from the last entry
• Product transaction records: keep for 2 years
• Outsourced production: inspect the contract site at least once every half year
• Customer complaints such as foreign matter: record and keep for 2 years, and keep the evidence for 6 months
• Groundwater instead of tap water: use only water tested by a drinking water lab every 1 year (6 months for beverages)

YouSun Administrative Agency (Chief Administrative Agent Jung Yu-sun)