3. Compositional Aspects

General Foods
South Korea

This section provides the compositional requirements for the food category and/or food products in scope and information on permitted nutrients, ingredients, and additives.

3.1 Composition Requirements

There are no compositional requirements for food in general. The Korea Food Code [1] defines composition requirements per specific foods.

3.2 Raw Material Requirements

The standard of individual food is included in the Korea Food Code [1]. Standard of food additives applicable for foods included in the Korea Food Additive Code [2].

Chapter 2. Common standards and specifications for general foods in the Korean food code include standards for food ingredients. All raw materials must meet the requirement of food ingredient as below [1]:

Standards for Food Ingredient

Requirements for Ingredients

(1) Ingredients used for manufacturing of foods shall be collected, handled, processed, manufactured, or managed for the purpose of human consumption. 

(2) Ingredients shall be of good quality and fresh; such ingredients shall not be spoiled or deteriorated, nor shall they be contaminated by toxic or harmful substances, thereby being safe.

(3) In the event that natural ingredients that are not subject to food manufacturing/processing business registration, are directly processed and used for processed foods, foreign matters on such ingredients, such as soil, sand, dirt, etc., shall be sufficiently removed and washed off with food processing water as necessary. In addition, the inedible part shall be sufficiently removed.

(4) When purchased and used by businesses subject to license, registration, or report, such food ingredients shall be registered for manufacturing business registration or complete import declaration, and conform to the applicable Standards and Specifications; those in violation of related laws, such as expired products, etc., shall not be used.

(5) Foods and food additives shall conform to the applicable Standards and Specification, if any; ginseng, red ginseng, and black ginseng to the “Ginseng Industry Act;” wood-cultivated ginseng to the “Forestry and Mountain Villages Development Promotion Act;” and livestock products to the “Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act.” However, in the event that the standards and specifications for hazardous contaminants, such as heavy metals, in finished products are stricter than for those in ingredients for use, ingredients shall be used properly in conformity with the former.

(6) In the event of using ground powder as ingredients, they shall be fresh, and not spoiled or deteriorated; nor shall they be contaminated by foreign matters.

(7) Food processing water shall meet the drinking water standards under the “Management of Drinking Water Act;” or shall be fresh water, concentrated water, deionized mineral water, or mineral concentrated water that meets the Standards/Specifications under the “Development and Management of Deep-Sea Water Act.”

(8) In the event of using agricultural, livestock, or Fishery products, etc. cultivated or bred by utilizing biological engineering technologies such as technologies that artificially recombine genes or directly inject nucleic acids forming genes into cells or organelles within cells, or cell fusion technology beyond a family on the basis of taxonomy as ingredients, such ingredients shall be determined to be conforming as a result of the safety review under the “Regulation on GMO Food Safety Review” pursuant to Article 18 of the “Food Sanitation Act.”

(9) Lactic acid bacteria, etc. used in food shall be edible for human consumption and safe in terms of food sanitation.

(10) Chinese sumac (Rhus verniciflua Stokes) may be used only as an ingredient of the product for cooking sumac chickens or ducks in the form of sumac extract water or a sumac extract tea bag. In such cases, urushiol components shall not be detected in products that use Chinese sumac. In addition, sumac extract water with urushiol components removed by using Fomitella fraxinea (Fr.) Imaz., may be used exclusively in soy sauces and pastes, fermented vinegars, Korean turbid rice wines (takju), Korean cleared rice wines (yakju), Korean refined rice wines (cheongju) and fruit wines only prior to fermentation process. In the above cases, the use amount is as follows:

1. Soy sauces and pastes and fermented vinegars: Not more than 10.0% of the finished product weight is based on the Chinese sumac weight used in manufacturing extract.
2. Turbid rice wines (takju), cleared rice wines (yakju), refined rice wines (cheongju), and fruit wines: Not more than 2.0% of the finished product weight based on the Chinese sumac weight used in manufacturing extract.

(11) Ginseng or red ginseng-containing products

1. In the case of using ginseng as ingredients, dried young ginseng (chunmisam), ginseng seedling (myosam), skin (sampi) and ginseng marc shall not be used; and diseased ginseng may be used after removal of the damaged parts.
2. Ginseng leaves shall not contain foreign matters such as other plants; nor shall they be diseased ginseng leaves or stems or flowers.
3. Fresh ginseng roots to be added in their original form shall not be less than 3 years old; (except hydroponic ginseng set forth in the Ginseng Industry Act); and diseased ginseng or lower-grade ginseng shall not be used.

(12) Eggs used as an ingredient in manufacturing and processing foods shall not be unfit for human consumption, such as spoiled eggs, eggs with rancid odor or mold, or mixed with foreign matters, containing blood, or with leaking contents or ruptured yolks (excluding those due to physical causes), or those that stopped hatching or failed to hatch, etc.; and they shall conform to the maximum residue limits for eggs.

(13) Ingredients for frozen edible fish heads shall be those classified as fit for human consumption (HS 0303) under the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System of the World Customs Organization (WCO); processed in a sanitary manner; and approved as such by related authorities. In addition, such ingredients shall be obtained by removing viscera and gills upon cutting the ingredients and shall be processed in a sanitary manner without the use of other materials, such as food additives.

(14) Ingredients for frozen edible fish viscera shall be those classified as fit for human consumption (HS 0303, 0306, or 0307) under the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System of the World Customs Organization (WCO); processed in a sanitary manner; and approved as such by related authorities. In addition, such ingredients shall be obtained by removing other viscera upon separation of the ingredients without the use of other materials, such as food additives.

(15) Uncooked raw oysters shall be produced in the sea areas that meet the sanitary standards for the designated sea areas pursuant to the “Sanitary Standards for Water Quality for Shellfish Production Areas” (Notification by Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries), or treated to meet the standards For clean waters through natural*or artificial purification**.

• *Natural purification: A process to transfer oysters to an area that meets the water standards and treat them with natural purification capacity in order to reduce the microorganism level in oysters.
• ** Artificial purification: A process to treat oysters with restricted water environments, such as land-based facilities, etc., in order to reduce pathogens in oysters.

(16) Ice for fishery used for storage and preservation of fishery products, etc., shall be handled in a sanitary manner.

(17) Ingredients used in propolis extract-containing food shall be those collected by honeybees without being contaminated.

(18) Chlorella in chlorella-containing food and spirulina in spirulina-containing food shall be purely cultured.

(19) Ingredients used in keto acid-containing food shall be obtained using crustaceans (such as crabs and shrimps, etc.) where uncontaminated keto acid can be extracted. No manufacturing solvent residue shall remain in the food after being used for manufacturing such food using keto acid.

(20) “Edible insects” shall meet the Standards and Specifications, etc. for Breeding of Edible Insects set forth in the “Act on Fosterage and Support of The Insect Industry.”

(21) Chili peppers that are diseased, moldy, rotten, or speckled due to being dried in a spoiled condition shall not be used.

(22) In the event that edible by-products generated in manufacturing/processing food are intended to be used as an ingredient for other products, such by-products shall be collected, handled, and managed in a sanitary manner according to the food handling standards.

(23) Among food ingredients, fruits that are prohibited from using seeds can be used with seeds in the manufacturing and processing of foods if the seed becomes removed when consumed. 

3.3 Fortification

It is possible to fortify common foods with nutrients. 

Vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other food additives that can be used as nutritional fortifiers as per the Korea Food Additives Code [2], and nutrients for which the daily nutritional intake is set as in Table 5 of Article 6 of the enforcement rules of the food labeling and advertising act such as protein and fatty acids can also be added to general foods for the purpose of nutritional enhancement [3].

Vitamins and minerals can be added as per the levels indicated for "contains" or "high" (refer to Section 5 on Claim Requirements).

3.4 Other Permitted Ingredients

Depending on the standards and specifications for each food in the Food Code, there are foods that allow the addition of food or food additives or foods that do not allow the addition of food or food additives.

Functional ingredients can be added to general food following specific rules (please refer to Sections 4.6 and 5 of this guidebook). The list of permitted functional ingredients is provided in Chapter 3 of the Health Functional Food Code [4].

3.5 Permitted Additives

Food additives in the Food Additives Code are limited to the foods they can be used in. There are permitted or non-permitted food additives depending on the food category or food type. Therefore, it is not possible to specify food additives permitted in General Foods.

Briefly, food additives classified as nutritional fortifiers except for sodium ferrous citrate, ferrous gluconate, calcium gluconate, nicotinic acid, ammonium molybdate, sodium molybdate, sodium fluoride, vitamin K1, vitamin K2, L-cysteine hydrochloride, 5’-cytidylix acid, disodium 5’-cytidylate, 5’-adenylic acid, sodium selenite, chromium chloride, disodium 5’-uridylate, cupric sulfate, and zinc sulfate can be used as nutritional fortifiers [2].

3.6 Permitted Flavors and Colors 

Flavors

Natural flavors are made from raw materials that can be used to manufacture natural flavoring materials that are listed in Table 1 in flavors in the Korea Food Additives Code [5] and Table 2. List of synthetic flavors can be used for General Foods [6].

Colors

Food Colors summarized in the below Table of the Food Additives Code can be used for General Foods. [2]

3.7 Permitted Processing Aids 

Processing aids refer to food additives that are intentionally used to achieve technical purposes during the food manufacturing process and are decomposed and removed before completion of the final product so that they do not remain or may unintentionally remain in trace amounts [7].

Processing aids allowed for General Foods include [2]:

1. Hydrogen peroxide
2. Nickel
3. Lauric acid
4. Sodium methoxide
5. Myristic acid
6. Oxygen
7. Oxalic acid
8. Sodium hydroxide
9. Sodium hydroxide liquid
10. Hydrogen
11. Stearic acid
12. Ammonia
13. Oleic acid
14. Isopropyl alcohol
15. Ion exchange resin
16. Gibberellic acid
17. Nitrogen gas
18. Capric acid
19. Caprylic acid
20. Palmitic acid
21. Sulfuric acid
22. Cupric sulfate
23. Zinc sulfate
24. Enzyme preparation

3.8 Additional Notes 

Trans fat is subject to nutritional information labeling. Trans fat can be labeled as less than 0.5 gram if it is 0.5 gram per 100 grams of raw material. And if trans fat is less than 0.2 grams/100 grams, it can be labeled as zero. If trans fat is less than 0.5 grams per 100 grams, it can be labeled as low trans fat. [8]

Edible oil products can be labeled as zero when the trans fat content is less than 2 grams/100 grams. [8]

3.9 References

1. Requirement of food ingredient in food code

https://various.foodsafetykorea.go.kr/fsd/#/ext/Document/FC

2. Standards for use of food additives by items in Korea Food Additives Code

https://various.foodsafetykorea.go.kr/fsd/#/ext/Document/FA?searchNm=%EC%8B%9D%ED%92%88%EC%B2%A8%EA%B0%80%EB%AC%BC%20%EB%B0%8F%20%ED%98%BC%ED%95%A9%EC%A0%9C%EC%A0%9C%EB%A5%98&itemCode=FA00000000001A002

3. Enforcement rules of the food labeling and advertising act

https://www.law.go.kr/LSW//lsInfoP.do?lsId=013475&ancYnChk=0#0000

4. Health Functional Food Code (as amended) in KOR

https://various.foodsafetykorea.go.kr/fsd/#/ext/Document/FF

Health Functional Food Code (as amended) in ENG

https://www.mfds.go.kr/eng/brd/m_15/view.do?seq=70011&srchFr=&srchTo=&srchWord=&srchTp=&itm_seq_1=0&itm_seq_2=0&multi_itm_seq=0&company_cd=&company_nm=&page=3

5. Raw materials for natural flavors in Korea Food Additive Code        

https://various.foodsafetykorea.go.kr/fsd/#/ext/Document/FA?searchNm=%EC%B2%9C%EC%97%B0%ED%96%A5%EB%A3%8C%EB%AC%BC%EC%A7%88&itemCode=FA0A642005006A644

6. List of synthetic flavour in Korea Food Additive Code

https://various.foodsafetykorea.go.kr/fsd/#/ext/Document/FA?searchNm=%ED%95%A9%EC%84%B1%ED%96%A5%EB%A3%8C%EB%AC%BC%EC%A7%88&itemCode=FA0A643005006A645

7. Chapter 1. Korea Food Additives Code, Definition of term

식품분야 공전 온라인 서비스 (foodsafetykorea.go.kr)

8. Detailed standards for each labeling item in attached form 1 of the Food Labeling Standards

https://www.law.go.kr/%ED%96%89%EC%A0%95%EA%B7%9C%EC%B9%99/%EC%8B%9D%ED%92%88%EB%93%B1%EC%9D%98%ED%91%9C%EC%8B%9C%EA%B8%B0%EC%A4%80