‘Less Salty’ Labeling Now Possible on Convenience Store Gimbap... New Sodium Reduction Labeling Category Established

From now on, ready-to-eat foods sold on the market, such as gimbap and mandu, will be able to display sodium reduction labels like "less salty."

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 25th that it will administratively announce a partial revision of the "Sodium and Sugar Reduction Labeling Standards" to expand the production of products with reduced sodium and sugar and to guarantee consumer choice for low-sodium diets.

The main revisions include ▲expanding the scope of sodium reduction labeling ▲establishing sugar reduction labeling for processed milk, fermented milk, and other products.

With this revision, products such as gimbap, rice balls, frozen rice, and mandu sold at convenience stores and marts can now display labels indicating reduced sodium content. Previously, such labeling was only allowed for fried noodles, triangular gimbap, soups, and stews. A Ministry of Food and Drug Safety official explained, "The expansion of sodium reduction labeling targets is due to the increased consumption of ready meals and the need to manage nutritional components such as sodium."

To display sodium reduction labels on ready-to-eat foods, the sodium content must be at least 10% lower than the average sodium content of similar products sold on the market, and at least 25% lower compared to similar products from the same manufacturer.

Additionally, the Ministry announced that it has established grounds to allow labels such as "less sweet" and "reduced sugar" on processed milk, fermented milk, and concentrated fermented milk, which are frequently consumed in daily life for calcium intake. If there are any opinions on this revision, they can be submitted by the 14th of next month.

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