On December 13, 2024, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) of the Republic of Korea released an updated announcement on shelf-life reference values for food products.

Since 2022, MFDS has publicized shelf-life reference values for 104 food types covering 884 commodities. This time, shelf-life reference values for 109 new food types and 275 commodity items have been added, including mint chewing gum and ketchup, etc. The shelf-life of some of the food products has been extended, such as mint chewing gum from 365 days to 664 days and ketchup from 6 months to 8 months to 345 days. To further support the food industry, MFDS will gradually conduct shelf-life setting experiments for more than 200 types of food products between 2022 and 2025, and provide relevant reference values. 150 types of food products with 1,159 items have already been disclosed as reference values.