In 2020, South Korea released the implementation plan of the veterinary drug positive list system, which plans to implement the veterinary drug positive list system in two stages. On January 1, 2024, South Korea officially implemented the first phase of the positive list system.What are the specific contents of this system? Foodmate will take you to understand the main contents of the Korean positive list system and new regulations.

1. Korea positive list system

In South Korea, the residual substances (pesticides or veterinary drugs) that have been registered and approved in its domestic are managed by setting the residue limit standard, and the residual substances without corresponding residue limit standards are managed in according with the standard below 0.01mg/kg, that is, the positive list system (PLS).

2. The evolution of Korea's positive list system

The following chart shows the evolution and implementation of Korea's positive list system.

3. Korea positive list system implementation plan progress

4. The impact on export food trade after the implementation of the system

After the implementation of the positive list system for veterinary drugs in South Korea, the limit standards for veterinary drugs that have not formulated the residue limit standards are more stringent than before. For example: for Nurofen, South Korea has not formulated the residual limit standard for Salmon, Trout and other fish; in this case, South Korea applies the CODEX standard limit of 1.35mg/kg before December 31, 2023, while after January 1, 2024, the standard will be implemented by 0.01mg/kg , which is 135 times stricter than before.

The implementation of the positive list system of pesticides and veterinary drugs in South Korea has strengthened food safety management from the source, but for other countries, it has raised the technical threshold of agricultural exports, and also brought challenges to export enterprises. Before exporting, food enterprises should first confirm whether the residue limit of agricultural and veterinary drugs in agricultural products meets the requirements of Korea to avoid unnecessary trade losses.