Small Food Industry: "In Dire Straits, MFDS Demands Investment First, Request to Postpone Mandatory HACCP Application in December"

Mandatory HACCP Next Month... Need for Flexible Grace Period Application

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] Small and medium-sized food companies are deeply concerned about the mandatory application of the Food Safety Management Certification Standards (HACCP), scheduled for December. They are experiencing significant financial burdens related to HACCP certification amid ongoing business difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many companies are raising their voices, requesting that the deadline be postponed as much as possible.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and industry sources on the 6th, from December 1, mandatory HACCP application will be enforced under Article 48, Paragraph 2, and Article 62, Paragraph 1 of the Food Sanitation Act. Accordingly, food manufacturing and processing businesses producing snacks, candies, bread, rice cakes, chocolates, fish sausage, teas and coffee excluding beverages, ready-to-eat foods, noodles and fried noodles, and special-purpose foods (food mandatory application stage 4), as well as meat processing businesses with sales exceeding 500 million KRW in 2016 (livestock products stage 2), will be required to apply HACCP. Violation of the mandatory application period by producing or selling without certification will result in business suspension.

The problem is that many companies subject to mandatory application are facing business difficulties due to the COVID-19 impact and are not free from financial burdens. The essential steps for HACCP certification, such as testing for harmful elements in various raw materials and installing or renovating facilities and equipment, impose significant costs, increasing operational burdens. Even after obtaining certification, companies must continuously bear maintenance costs to renew the certification before its expiration.

As a result, there has been a flood of requests for grace periods through the Korea Food Safety Management Certification Institute, the certification processing agency under the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Considering these requests, the Ministry accepted applications last month from companies in the food stage 4 and livestock products stage 2 categories, allowing for a grace period of up to one year if they requested additional time for facility and equipment renovation.

The Ministry plans to grant extensions for the period necessary for facility and equipment renovation (including new construction) if the company's application reasons and deadlines are deemed reasonable. The scope of the grace period includes ▲companies currently undergoing facility and equipment renovation (including relocation and new construction) for HACCP application ▲renovation of hygiene rooms, changing rooms, ventilation facilities, floors, walls, ceilings, doors, and windows of workspaces ▲partition construction for workspace separation and zoning ▲installation of essential equipment for HACCP application such as critical control points (CCP) equipment (washers, heaters, foreign substance control devices, etc.) ▲and other facility and equipment renovations necessary to comply with HACCP standards.

The Certification Institute will review the appropriateness of the reasons and periods for each applicant by the 12th of this month. If deemed suitable, it will report to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, which will notify the business operators of the approval or rejection results via text message and mail on the 16th after the Minister's approval.

However, the issue is that applications for grace periods are only accepted from companies currently undergoing facility and equipment renovation (including new construction). Companies already facing business difficulties or those planning to close after the application deadline are not eligible for the grace period. A company representative stated, "Given the ongoing COVID-19 infections, companies experiencing business difficulties or small-scale micro-enterprises need a longer grace period. For companies with decreased sales, expenditures such as facility investment costs are burdensome, and if the mandatory application period is enforced, they may be forced to suspend production or consider closure." The Korea Federation of SMEs also emphasized, "Most small and medium enterprises are suffering from decreased sales and production disruptions due to COVID-19. Policies that consider the realities of SMEs are necessary."

Meanwhile, as the 'Livestock Products HACCP Certification System,' operated by specialized institutions like food HACCP, is set to be implemented, egg-laying farms with egg sorting and packaging businesses are facing deep concerns. It is difficult to realistically meet HACCP certification standards at the processing and distribution stages. Currently, many egg sorting and packaging businesses are linked to farms. It is understood that about half of the sorting and packaging businesses are installed inside laying hen farms. Since small-scale egg distribution companies cannot afford to install egg sorting and packaging businesses, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has effectively shifted the investment burden onto laying hen farms.

A farm official said, "Laying hen farms are breeding facilities where contaminants such as manure and dust are scattered, making it difficult to completely separate labor within the farm and the packaging business. Since the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is pushing for egg sorting and packaging businesses, and laying hen farms have invested hundreds of millions of won to establish these businesses, realistic measures such as establishing separate safety standards must be prepared," he emphasized.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.