Korea Preregistration for Importing Foods

The Republic of Korea, Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), has implemented a Special Act on Safety Management of Imported Foods. The act requires all foreign facilities to preregister with MFDS prior to import. Preregistration must be completed at least seven days prior to import declaration. Due to the short timeline, MFDS has enacted a grace period through Aug. 3, 2016. Almond Board is encouraging industry members to register on the MFDS website. The registration will require facilities to agree to on-site inspections, although this does not necessarily mean MFDS will conduct an on-site inspection. The MFDS will need compelling reasons for inspections, such as a food safety emergency. For more information, please read “GAIN Report: Korea’s Special Act on Imported Food Safety Management.”

Korea is also in the process of establishing a “positive” list of pesticide maximum residue limits (MRLs). Compounds that did not have data packages submitted by March 31, 2016, risk a default tolerance of 0.01 beginning December 31, 2016. The Almond Board is pleased to announce that the majority of relevant almond MRL data packages were submitted by the March 31 deadline.