Park Jin-sun, chairman of the Korea Food Industry Association [Korea Food Industry Association]
Park Jin-sun, chairman of the Korea Food Industry Association [Korea Food Industry Association]

The Korea Food Industry Association on Friday welcomed the signing of a food safety cooperation document between the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and China's General Administration of Customs.

The association said the agreement, which follows an MOU on Korea-China food safety cooperation signed in January, resolves long-standing challenges faced by exporters and "lays an important foundation for expanding exports to China."

Under the new framework, companies seeking to export to China no longer need to apply individually to Chinese authorities. Instead, a unified review and approval system through the Food Safety Korea portal has been established, cutting the registration period for general food products — excluding livestock products — from about three months to roughly 10 days. The change is expected to reduce annual losses of around 370 billion won ($266 million) and accelerate market entry.

Korean ramyun containing meat ingredients, which had previously been barred from the Chinese market entirely, will now be eligible for export provided the products use raw meat from countries recognized by China and meet hygiene requirements such as heat-treatment standards. The change is expected to relieve manufacturers of the burden of operating separate production lines for the Chinese market, boosting production efficiency and cutting costs.

The agreement also replaces paper-based sanitary certificates for fishery products with a government-to-government electronic certificate system. The switch is expected to significantly speed up customs clearance, strengthen security against forgery and falsification, and eliminate roughly 3 billion won in annual concessions previously incurred for international postal delivery and related costs.

The association said it plans to work closely with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to promptly inform member companies of the procedural changes so the benefits of the agreement can be felt immediately on the ground.

"This cooperation document will greatly expand customs convenience and reduce the administrative burden on companies, enabling large corporations as well as mid-sized and small and medium-sized enterprises to enter the Chinese market more quickly and reliably," association chairman Park Jin-sun said.


spa@heraldcorp.com