On December 17, the South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) announced that from next year, MFDS will require importers of processed animal products* to submit the export health certificate agreed by the government of the exporting country and MFDS when making import declaration.

*Sterilized meat products, dairy products, egg products and other processed livestock products that have been sterilized.

The export health certificate is the certificate issued by the government of the exporting country after confirming whether it meets the import health conditions such as Korean regulations at each export. It records the product name, quantity, weight, workshop name, location, registration number, production or processing date, etc.

In order to strengthen the advance safety management of imported animal products, MFDS has revised the rules for the implementation of the special law on the safety management of imported food (implemented on January 1, 2022). For the processed animal products exported to South Korea, the export health certificate issued by the exporting country shall be submitted at each import.

Therefore, it will no longer be recognized that the production process (heat treatment certificate, etc.) of the company of the exporting country can be submitted in place of the export hygiene certificate during the previous import declaration.