Allergens in South Korea

Hello folks

I am double-checking my data regarding allergens and am having a bit of a problem that I need help understanding.  While trying to look up the acceptable levels of sulfites in South Korea I'm aware of the >10 mg/kg labeling threshold, but I'm looking to understand if there's an upper acceptable limit.  Although I didn't find one, I did find this reference on the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety website that has me a bit confused.  Here's what I read:

○ Foods for Allergen Labeling: eggs (confined to those from poultry), milk, buckwheat, peanuts, soybeans, wheat, mackerel, crab, shrimp, pork, peach, tomato, sulfurous acid (confined to cases where sulfurous acid is added and the final product includes 10mg/kg or more SO2), walnuts, chicken, beef, squid, clams (including oyster, abalone, and mussels)

I'm assuming the translation is off, as I don't think pork, chicken and beef are allergens.  Where should I be looking to get the correct facts with respect to allergens for foods being imported in to South Korea.  Although my question is purposefully general, my specific product is condiments requiring refrigeration such as cocktail sauce.

Thanks in advance!

This pdf appears to have been translated better  (a little clearer about the beef/pork)  and hopefully will help. It also includes a south korean email address for questions

http://www.mfds.go.k...&boardSeq=70814

from p.28:

2. Labelling of Precautions for Consumer Safety

A. Labelling of Allergens

The name of an allergen in ingredient shall be labelled regardless of the content. The labelling target and labelling method are as follows:

1) Labelling Target

A) When eggs (limited to poultry), milk, buckwheat, peanuts, soybeans, wheat, mackerel, crab, shrimp, pork, peaches, tomatoes, sulfurous acid (limited to the final product containing it with as SO2 over 10mg/kg), walnuts, chicken, beef, squid, shellfish (including oysters, abalone, and mussels) were used as ingredients.

I'll post the response I receive from the email I will be sending; I seem to recall seeing a summary of recognized allergens (possibly from FARRP) that included South Korea; perhaps there's a reference there that may be helpful as well.

I don't know if will help or not but FARRP maintains a Food Allergens - International Regulatory Chart that lists the allergens certain countries are monitoring for.  I could not get it to copy as a link but you should be able to type in the following into your search bar: https://farrp.unl.edu/IRChart to see it.

I don't know if will help or not but FARRP maintains a Food Allergens - International Regulatory Chart that lists the allergens certain countries are monitoring for.  I could not get it to copy as a link but you should be able to type in the following into your search bar: https://farrp.unl.edu/IRChart to see it.

Hi Mulan,

Thks. Seems it's available as a pdf which i have attached -

FARRP - International-Allergens-4-24-18.pdf   88.76KB   32 downloads

from p.28:

 

2. Labelling of Precautions for Consumer Safety

A. Labelling of Allergens

The name of an allergen in ingredient shall be labelled regardless of the content. The labelling target and labelling method are as follows:

1) Labelling Target

A) When eggs (limited to poultry), milk, buckwheat, peanuts, soybeans, wheat, mackerel, crab, shrimp, pork, peaches, tomatoes, sulfurous acid (limited to the final product containing it with as SO2 over 10mg/kg), walnuts, chicken, beef, squid, shellfish (including oysters, abalone, and mussels) were used as ingredients.

 

I'll post the response I receive from the email I will be sending; I seem to recall seeing a summary of recognized allergens (possibly from FARRP) that included South Korea; perhaps there's a reference there that may be helpful as well.

Hi BY,

I don't really understand yr OP query.

Surely the "limit" should be as already quoted. Period.

However you can find some interesting posts here discussing the interpretation of the limit with respect to the calculation.

Charles, the confusion was created in my mind on two issues:

1. What constitutes allergens in South Korea after reading the document referenced and comparing it to what was listed on the FARRP summary, which does not identify beef and chicken as an allergen.

2. whether there was an upper acceptable limit, which there does not appear to be.  I understand that labeling must identify concentrations exceeding 10mg/kg, however that is not the same as an upper acceptable limit.

Thanks

However you can find some interesting posts here discussing the interpretation of the limit with respect to the calculation.

Sorry but may I impose on you to provide the hyperlink you intended on the word interpretation?  I can't seem to get it to work