FAS/Seoul Monitoring of Media Reporting on Agricultural Issues

Today's Date: Saturday, February 28, 2015

For Coverage: February 01 ~ 28, 2015

1. BILATERAL/MULTILATERAL ISSUES

Sacrificial foods were detected for false indication of country of origin. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53992

National Agricultural Products Quality Management service detected 664 companies that violated the indication law of country of origin. They had intensive control before the holidays so that they can protect the consumers’ right. They will make the supervision more intensified and effective.

Initialing FTA between Korea and China has been completed. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=54055

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy declared that initiation of the FTA between Korea and China has been completed. Korea is planning to eliminate tariff on 92% of products and 91% of the amount of imports in 20 years. Considering the domestic farming sensitiveness, most of the agrifood are excluded to protect our local food. The rest of the products except for the excluded agrifood are ready to extend their business in China.

FTA between Korea and Canada took effect from Jan this year

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53923

The embassy of Canada in Korea is having a Canada B2B session at Lotte hotel. Over 30 Canadian food industries and 120 staff from Korean food companies have participated. Canadian food companies showed various products at the session. The FTA between Korea and Canada started from Jan 1^st this year and the tariff barriers for food were abolished since then. This session was provided to expand the food business network between Korea and Canada.

2. BIOTECHNOLOGY ISSUES

New differentiation of medicinal herbs is invented. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53872

The National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation have declared that they can now differentiate the medicinal herbs that are difficult to tell apart by using DNA bar code. They succeeded to tell difference between Korean angelica root and angelica acutiloba. The principle is simple; take atpH-atpI part of the DNA and do PCR and electrophoresis after. This differentiation can save both time and money and it is very accurate.

FDA found new analysis method on food ingredient. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53868

Korea Food and Drug Administration have developed new genetic analysis method for 45 different kinds of food ingredients. The genetic analysis is basically using gene sequencing from food to differentiate the food ingredients. They are planning to develop the analysis method for more than 300 kinds of most consumed food ingredients by 2017.

CJ CheilJedang increased its sales profit. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53869

CJ CheilJedang’s sales have increased by 2.2% and its sales profits have increased by 24.5% compared to last year’s. Although there was economic recession last year, due to the recovery of Lysine selling price, the overall fields’ sales profits increased. The sales for grocery were increased by 1.9%, the sales for biotechnology field were increased by 0.8%, and the sales for livestock products & services were increased by 4.4%.

3. FOOD SAFETY ISSUES

Deep ocean water is used as an ingredient of every food. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53747

It is now possible to use deep ocean water as an ingredient of every food. The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries prepared a standard in order to extend the limit of application of the deep sea water. The extension of the application range is expected to bring improvement to this business.

Anxiety of radioactive contamination of food is increasing. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53749

After the accident of Fukushima nuclear power plant, domestic consumers’ anxiety of radioactive contamination of food still seems to be a big problem. They are especially worried about contamination of the marine products as well as agricultural goods being imported to Korea. The Korea Consumer Agency said they will continuously monitor the radioactive contamination status and provide information to consumers so that they could relieve the anxiety.

The consumer organization claimed for enhanced supervisory system after the waste egg incident. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=54005

The consumer organization was deeply worried after the incident of reusing the waste eggs that the basis of food safety is not guaranteed. This incident was clearly threatening the safety and violating the consumers’ right to safe food. They are requiring the FDA’s  enhanced supervision and are seeking the list of industries that had been using the wasted eggs as ingredients.

‘Chlorella’ is practically used for high quality agrifood production. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53873

The Rural Development Administration has developed chlorella strain’s cultivation technology to disseminate and apply. Chlorella which is famous for sulfating, enhancing immune system as well as health for skin is practically used for vitalizing agricultural production. The result of scientific research has proven its effect on plant production; improving germination rate, promoting growth and development, controlling disease, and improving the quality of the products. This development could be a major foundation to production of high quality agricultural food that is competitive in price as well.

FDA invented the simultaneous analysis for 45 kinds of animal drugs. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=54038

The Korea FDA invented new analysis method that could analyze 45 kinds of animal drugs used for marine products simultaneously. By using this method researchers will be able to use one simultaneous analysis instead of 15 separate analyses. Also the analytical time will be reduced from 5 days to 2 days. The FDA will give a short notice in March and they will provide an education as well.

The benzopyrene of hansalim sesame oil that exceeds the standard was detected. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53920

The Korea Food and Drug Administration have detected benzopyrene of sesame oil that exceeds the standard by more than 5 times. The standard was 2.0μg/kg but the detected products had each 10.0μg/kg and 13.0μg/kg of benzopyrene. The FDA is making the manufacturers stop selling the product.

Food poisoning bacteria were detected in Norway smoked salmon. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53931

The Consumers Union of Korea has operated supervision through Jan 5^th to Jan 27^th and detected food poisoning bacteria in ‘prime smoked salmon slice’. The related manufacturer will stop manufacturing and recall the product. The consumers union asked FDA to be extra careful when supervising inspections of microorganisms on smoked salmon.

Residual insecticides detected on 3 kinds of agrifood last year. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53970

Last year, Korea Food and Drug Administration detected residual insecticides on 3 products out of 517. According to FDA, they’ve done the residual insecticides examination from 2013 and they will make sure that the results are made public as fast as possible so that the security for circulation is guaranteed.

The eradication of exotic plants’ disease and pest has increased by 5%. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53892

The agriculture and forestry quarantine headquarters has declared that they detected 647 kinds of disease and pest in the plants that were imported in 2014. Among the pests, those that are fatal to agricultural industries and the environment were 403 kinds and the quarantine made it clear that they have eliminated them from circulation and shipped them back. The number of detection has increased by 5% compared to last year’s.

National Poultry Cooperative Federation used and provided rotten eggs to bakery franchise. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53980

According to KBS news broadcasted on 13^th this month, the National Poultry Cooperative Federation cut down the cost for waste water treatment and raw material by using the rotten and broken eggs that were supposed to be thrown away. Moreover is the fact that they were providing these eggs to some famous bakery franchise which resulted in the anger of  millions of consumers. After this news broadcast, the federation posted an apology statement on its webpage and promised they will shut down the factory until the result says they are safe.

4. ECONOMIC ISSUES

The business index of the food service industry has shown steady declination. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53740

The business index of the food service industry has shown steady declination due to the shrink of consumer sentiment. The prospect of first quarter is slightly bright for Korean food but rapid recovery seems hard for now.

New market access and quantity for 14 products are increased. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53867

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance has increased the market access and quantity for 14 products. They are applying it by the end of this year in order to balance the supply and demand and to protect the domestic industries. They are taking other opinions or objections about this matter by Feb 10^th.

The domestic food industry’s consumption on local agriculture has increased. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53739

The domestic food industry’s consumption on local agriculture has increased by 1.5% on 2013. The main reason for purchasing local ingredients was because of the consumers’ sensitiveness about the origin of the base material and possibility of mass supply. On the other hand, the reason for purchasing imported ingredients was mainly because of the price.

FAO food price index has declined. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53891

According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the food price index for 2015 January has declined 1.9% in a month and it has declined by 10.1% compared to last year’s. All the other items besides dairy and sugar declined, showing especially rapid declination in grains, fat and oils.

The amount of export in January recorded 5 hundred million U.S. dollars. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53981

The amount of export on January was 5 hundred million U.S. dollars which increased by 8.1% over last year. The export amount for America, China, Taiwan, and ASEAN increased, on the other hand, the amount for Japan and Hong Kong decreased. The export rate of Makgeolli, Korean traditional alcohol, recorded a remarkable growth and the reason was because Makgeolli was spotlighted as one of the healthy drinks.

5. GRAIN & OILSEED ISSUES

Direct payment on rice and farms have expanded [Korean, HTJ]
http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=shm&sid1=102&oid=421&aid=0001279710

SUMMARY: Requirements for direct payment on paddy land and upland will be relieved from this year. Gyeonggi-do, a metropolitan province, allowed farmers who cultivate rice farm less than one hectare to apply for direct payment. Direct payments for upland are allowed for farmers who cultivate any crops or even non-crop.  One government official expected the revised regulations to lead more farmers to participate in the programs of direct payment.

The rice consumption per capita has decreased. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53742

The rice consumption per capita has decreased by 2.1 kg on the other hand the rice consumption on food and drink industries have increased by 1.7%.

6. LIVESTOCK ISSUES

Beef that had exceeded its shelf life amounts to 850 thousand servings in Korea [Korean, HTJ]
http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=shm&sid1=101&oid=014&aid=0003372695

SUMMARY: Beef that had exceeded its shelf life amounted to about 850 thousand servings (200 grams per serving) in Korea for the past 2 years.  According to congressman Jaegeun-Inn’s analysis of MFDS materials, 23 out of 81 import companies froze chilled beef after its expiration date.  By looking at the ‘Imported beef traceability management system’, 286 cases were frozen after the expiration of its shelf life out of a total of 7,935 cases where imported chilled beef was frozen.  This amounts to a total of 17,042 Kilogram, which is equivalent to 850,000 servings (200 gram per serving).  There was even a case where chilled beef was frozen 6 months after the shelf life had expired.  The congressman said that these problems are now directly threatening people’s health.

Special audit on landfill areas where FMD and HPAI infected livestock have been buried [Korean, HTJ]
http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=shm&sid1=101&oid=034&aid=0002766865

SUMMARY: MAFRA is planning to conduct a special audit on landfill areas where FMD and HPAI infected livestock have been buried.  The audit is targeting 27 places that had used normal burring method by digging hole and burying the culled animals out of a total 600 landfill sites.  Landfill sites that had utilized plastics and others are planned to be audited jointly with relevant Ministries after FMD and HPAI has subsided.  A total of 98,000 heads of cow and swine was culled after the outbreak of FMD, and another 2.96 million heads of chicken and duck were buried after the HPAI outbreak.

Price of chicken leg is expected to rise [Korean, HTJ]
http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=shm&sid1=101&oid=001&aid=0007421430

SUMMARY: The ban on American chicken exports to Korea is causing chicken leg prices to soar in Korea.  According to MFDS, 54.5% of imported chicken and 57.6% of imported chicken legs were from the United States last year.  Chicken imports dropped 30% last month because of the import ban.  It is expected that this will affect prices of chicken leg since over half of them are imported from America.  KREI expects that prices of chicken will increase from 1,800 to 2,200 Korean Won per kilogram next month.

Increasing public interest on lamb meat in Korea [Korean, HTJ]
http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=shm&sid1=101&oid=001&aid=0007421486

SUMMARY: Interest in lamb meat is now increasing in Korea.  According to Korean Custom’s trade statistics, quantity of imported lamb was 7,189 MT, which was an increase of 38.4% over last year.  Distribution industry expects lamb meat will be even more popular in the future, thanks to increased price competitiveness and diversified customer appetite.  One marketing director from big mart in Korea said that the price of Australian lamb meat have dropped by 5~8% thanks to the FTA tariff advantage.  They also said that they could adjust various customer demands by selling lamb meat.

Increasing chicken consumption in Korea [Korean, HTJ]

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=shm&sid1=101&oid=022&aid=0002786759

SUMMARY: According to the Rural Development Administration (RDA)’s survey conducted last year, 52.6% of Korean families consume chicken once in a week, total 12.45kg a year.  Also, 62% of them consume duck meat once in every three months, a total of 3.46kg a year.  Meanwhile, one survey conducted by Centers for Disease Control (CDC) showed that Koreans take most of their essential fatty acid from pork (19.4%), followed by milk(10.5%) and ramen(7.1%).

Livestock industry output is expected to decline. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53811

According to Korean Rural Economic Institute’s newly released prospect report, not only this year’s gross agricultural output is expected to decline by 2.1% compared to last year’s but also gross livestock industry output is expected to decline. However, even with all the reduction, the international crude oil prices have dropped which will lead to the reduction of the materials price and the alleviation of the burden of working expenses. Hence the income is expected to be increased.

Prevention of epidemics [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53755

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has declared that there are going to be some revisions on the stock raising laws to improve the effectiveness of prevention of epidemics. In order to improve the standards for livestock industry’s permission and prevent domestic animals from disease, they have decided to adopt the tougher laws and regulations on disinfection. Such would include expanding the object of permission range, improving quarantine facilities as well as sterilization facilities.

FDA is planning to enhance the supervision of hygiene among the livestock industries [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53865

The Korea Food and Drug Administration supervised 83 food industries last month and found out that 15 industries out of 83 have violated the livestock hygiene management law. They strongly requested for administrative measure for the violation. They are planning to enhance their supervision to prevent the falsification of expiration date and origin of the country, and illegal distribution.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is supporting direct dealing of livestock products. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53935

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is supporting direct dealing of livestock products by building markets for them. The ministry is expecting to build a foundation of consumption on good quality of domestic livestock products by supporting the direct dealing. They are also improving the circulation system to build competitiveness of domestic livestock products, in response to the FTA with Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

Cows with mad cow disease were found in Canada. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53982

According to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forest, and Fishery, the Canada embassy detected some cows from Alberta had BSE and made sure that the dead body of those cows were not provided as fodder. The ministry said that they will make necessary actions regarding this situation.

Over 50% of consumers in capital areas eat chicken more than once a week. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53851

According to the survey done by Rural Development Administration, it is shown that around 52.6% of consumers in capital areas eat chicken more than once a week and the consumption of chicken per capita is 12.45kg each year. Also, 62% of them are eating duck meat once in every 3 months and the consumption of duck meat per capita is 3.46kg each year. The consumers considered fresh and sanity as first priority and they required information of chicken. The administration said that since the preference of duck or chicken vary from ages, new marketing for each age group is necessary.

7. MARKETING ISSUES

The Lotte group enhanced the communication between them and other small businesses. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53796

The Lotte group has decided to release the burger buns to small businesses in order to keep and make improvements of the coexistence. They are also supporting the market for tofu and makgeolli (Korean traditional alcohol). The main purposes of doing so are extending its business abroad together, obtaining more business opportunities, making improvements together by getting more supports for funds, and enhancing the communication between the Lotte and other small businesses. This agreement is expected to bring out lots of improvement to Lotte and expand company culture which would lead to small businesses’ practical benefits.

Small scale of beer manufacturing business has supports. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53759

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has come up with a policy that alleviates the facility burden for those who own a small scale of beer manufacture business. The purpose of the policy is to give benefits to traditional alcoholic drinks and to add values to agrifood.

Imported beer has continuously increased. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53765

The statistics of sales for beer has shown that the percentage of the sales for imported beer has continuously increased recording over 30% this year. The reason for this increase is due to higher accessibility to consumers and various sport events etc. The sales for domestic beer have decreased so local beer companies are coming up with new marketing to cope with the situation.

Nongsim has recorded its highest sales profit last year in China. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53849

Last year, Nongsim has recorded its highest sales export profit in China which is increased by 28% compared to the previous year. They are planning to enhance the marketing organization located in regions that have high potentials of growth and to make the new marketing on ‘baeksansu’ more concrete.

There will be some price advance in McDonald’s burgers. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53983

McDonald’s will  increase their burger prices by 1.89% starting from Feb 23^rd. According to McDonald’s, the price advance was due to the raise of raw materials and was an inevitable decision in order to provide customers best product and service.

The sales of probiotics have increased by 250%. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53941

While total sales of health functional food have increased by 16%, the growth of probiotics’ sale was remarkable which recorded 249.1% growth. According to FDA, the production  has grown from 40 billion won to 100 billion won and the number of its brand increased from 14 to 27. It is expected that there are even more possibility for probiotics market to grow.

New recipe called ‘Petitzel Mitzo’ was released. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53820

The number one food company, CJ CheilJedang and number one milk company, Seoul milk worked in cooperation and came up with new recipe called ‘Petitzel Mitzo’ which is a shake type of drink. By holding lots of events and going through various marketing, this new recipe is expected to promote consumption of drinking vinegar as well as milk.

Starbucks Korea has come up with new valentine’s menu. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53821

Starbucks Korea has come up with new valentine’s menu ‘Raspberry truffle mocha’. They are also showing handmade chocolate, mug, tumbler as well as cards that all have symbol of heart. The marketing team leader said that releasing new drink menu for the special occasion can stimulate the customers.

Campaign to promote sales of rice is created. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53792

The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries is planning to create a campaign to promote sales of rice which had shown steady decrease in order to reach the goal of food policy. To make the reduction ratio of rice to at least stabilize, they are not only having campaign but also advertising convenient rice for busy working people and customers’ recommended restaurants.

Compilation of our agrifood gift [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53809

The Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Rural Affairs and Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries have produced and published compilation of our agrifood gift. It includes all the information of highly evaluated traditional food which provides convenience to consumers. The reason they decided to produce this compilation was mainly because to promote the sales of our traditional agrifood so that it can alleviate some difficulties of the farm.

Expo held at Milano [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53760

Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is participating in an expo held at Milano this year from May 1st to Oct 31st. They will operate Korean pavilion to advertise the Korean food as well as Korean culture.

‘Madrid Fusion 2015’ [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53767

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Foundation of Korean food are participating in the ‘Madrid Fusion 2015’ which is held at Spain from Feb 2nd to 4th. It is a food fair and there will be booth exhibitions, conferences, and workshops to share brand new cooking trend and recipes. The foundation of Korean food is planning to benchmark after investigating the trend of world’s food.

Starbucks has released its new item. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53743

Starbucks has released its new item which is made of local corns, potatoes, and traditional potatoes. They can not only provide customers good quality of food but also they provide the farmhouse a nice and stable market as well as profits.

Dunkin Donut’s new release; Disney character donuts [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53862

Dunkin donut has released 5 different kinds of ‘Walt Disney character donuts’ this month. To celebrate, they are holding an event called ‘pooh donut pack’ event from Feb 5^th to 16^th.

Pasteur’s new alliance with Raisio and their newly released functional food product ‘benecol’ [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53824

Pasteur has established alliance with Raisio, one of the functional food companies in Finland, and they released new functional food product ‘benecol’. Benecol is one of the functional food products that reduce the cholesterol level in the blood. The clinical trial’s result showed that plant stanol ester helps reduce LDL cholesterol level by 8%. The new product is planning to be released in March and it is expected to be beneficial to mid-aged people who are suffering from a high cholesterol level.

Starbuck’s new campaign to promote milk consumption [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53895

Starbucks Korea is planning to start a new campaign called ‘loving milk latte’ to promote the milk consumption. The purpose of this campaign is to promote the domestic milk consumption. Starting this Monday Feb 9^th, they are selling café latte a little cheaper than its original price. They are also donating 100 won per cup to Korean dairy industries that are going through tough time. It is expected to draw more attention on milk through this campaign.

Dongwon F&B opened an application of online grocery shopping mall called ‘Dongwon mall’ [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53907

The online grocery shopping mall ‘Dongwon mall’ operated by Dongwon F&B has created a mobile application in order to provide customers convenience. They fixed few popular categories at the bottom to make an easy approach. There will be sales as well that are only held on application.

Korean traditional alcohol gallery opens at Insa-dong. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53914

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism are opening a gallery for Korean traditional alcohol at Insa-dong operated by few experts in traditional alcohol.  This gallery is located at Insa-dong where around 17 million local and international people gather per year. There will also be an education and consultation on traditional alcohol. The purpose of opening this gallery is to whip up and demand consumption of the Korean traditional alcohol.

Coca Cola’s new coconut drink ‘Zico original’. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53929

The Coca Cola has released its new coconut drink ‘Zico original’ at local markets. Zico original is non concentrated coconut water with a strong coconut flavor and since it is low in calories, those who are on a diet might prefer this drink. The Zico original also contains lots of electrolyte, so it is especially good to drink after working out.

Korean strawberries attracted the Thailand. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53934

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs are having strawberry sales promotion event at over 80 stores in Thailand central food retail on February. Thailand takes 4^th place for the amount of strawberry export and Korean strawberry’s market share in Thailand is 22.5% which is the second largest country. Their preference on Korean strawberry brings bright export prospect.  Starting from Thailand, the ministry is going to start new marketing targeting the South East Asian countries.

Lotteria is raising its burger and dessert price. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53959

Lotteria is increasing its burger and dessert price by 3% starting from Feb 16^th. The raise is due to the economic factors such as imported raw materials’ imbalance of supply and demand and exchange rate.

The food industries’ marketing for non MSG turned out to be false. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=54015

It is proven that a lot of processed food that didn’t have any MSG turned out to have HVP which is a replacement of MSG. According to one study research called ‘actual conditions of non-additive indication marketing and consumers’ awareness’, 8 out of 12 processed products that had such non-additive marketing turned out to have used substitution of MSG which is known as HVP. The representative of this research team hopes that by reporting this result, there could be a better foundation of fair marketing environment.

Ediya was by far the most favored coffee shop brand among 7 most popular coffee brands. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=54023

The Korea Consumer Agency investigated the level of consumer satisfaction of 7 most popular coffee shop brands. According to the consumer agency, Ediya was by far the most satisfied coffee shop. Two main factors that made consumers’ choices were taste and reasonable price of the coffee.

Starting from Feb 23^rd, 5 categories of disaster insurance products are on sale. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=54008

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs are selling 5 categories of disaster insurance products such as apple and pear in order to alleviate the farmers’ burden and promote their profit. The ministry paid 129 billion won of insurance money which was 91% of the total to 6838 victimized farmers. Those 5 categories were the most vulnerable products.

Korean cup rice brand ‘The cup’ is extending its business in France. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=54059

JNT has performed a France Franchise signing contract on Feb 24^th at the aT center. The product of ‘The cup’ is Korean and fusion food inside a cup and the foreigners can enjoy it without any difficulties. The aT said that they will support our local industries and to become global brands and that they will help local food service enterprises to extend their business abroad which would increase the domestic food ingredients’ amount of export.

8. OTHER MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES

This month’s marine product [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53815

The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries has chosen cubed snailfish and cockle for this month’s marine product. The cubed snailfish has lots of nutrition such as vitamin and amino acid. Additionally it is high in protein but low in fat. The cockle is also high in protein that has high content of essential amino acid. It also has various kinds of nutrient like calcium, vitamin and iron.

The most popular gift for Lunar New Year’s Day is ham packed in can. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53855

According to one investigation, the most popular gift for Lunar New Year’s Day is ham which is packed in can and shampoo. It is also shown that the domestic consumers prefer food for gift by 75.7%. They also showed their preference for set mixture of food and product. The price range for gift was usually around 2 million Korean won.

It is much cheaper to buy oversea chocolates through direct dealings. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53918

It is less expensive to buy overseas chocolates through direct dealings than to buy them at local selling price. The statistics has shown that the overseas prices of chocolate are cheaper by minimum 9.5% to maximum 47.7%. If buying them individually, it is slightly expensive because of the shipping cost but if buying them under the limit of tariff exception, it is a lot cheaper. The Korea Consumer Agency said that they will select few popular products that have high demands through direct dealings and will provide price comparison information to the consumers so that they can shop with reasonability.

170 tons of imported beef with passed expiration date were circulated. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=54002

After analyzing the data from Korea Food Drug and Administration (FDA), 170 tons of imported beef were circulated and their expiration dates were passed. The congressman criticized FDA’s supervisory system and claimed that their system should be more intensified. He also insisted that the punishment should be enhanced since FDA was in charge of the food hygiene which directly leads to public health.

9. MIFAFF PRESS RELEASES

Enhancing safety supervision due to increase of the consumption of sweets [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53822

Due to the approach of the special occasions such as White Day or Valentine’s Day, the Korea Food and Drug Administration expected the increase of the consumption of sweets like candy and chocolate. They performed a safety check and caught 20 places out of 123 manufacture industries that had been violating the Food Sanitation Act. The Administration is planning to enhance the supervision and they will make sure the other industries are aware of the safety rules.

To enhance the scientific analysis ability [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53791

The National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation has produced and distributed the component analysis of food and drugs that had been requested for investigations. The purpose of producing and distribution of analysis is to enhance the scientific analysis ability and to prevent customers’ exposure to illegal food and drug in advance.

Support the customers’ right and provide the agrifood information [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53807

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has decided to support the customers’ right and provide the agrifood information. The purpose of this policy is to support the 4 fields which are supporting the agrifood customers’ capability, providing the related information, enhancing the communication with the customers, and supporting the customers’ rights to know. These would be a great foundation to competitiveness of agrifood business and in order to achieve those purposes, not only the farmers’ but also consumers’ effort are needed.

Reformed the policy [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53777

The ministry of agriculture, food and rural affairs has reformed the policy related to product processing under the purpose of supporting systematization of the producer. The targets for reorganization are business that are vitalizing product processing, supporting the facility for product process, supporting the agrifood marketing, and supporting self-help cost of horticultural product. They are expecting more stable producing/circulating structure by reforming the policy.

Legislated to strengthen the safety supervision for imported food [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53746

The Korea Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that they have legislated to strengthen the safety supervision for imported food. The main content is registering manufacturing store before importing, classifying the products while going through security, and tracking down the distribution channel in order to have better and safer management of imported products.

FDA provided guideline for marine processed products additives. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53886

The Korean Food and Drug Administration provided guidelines for food additives in order to make sure that manufacturers of marine products are using right amount of sodium hydroxide and phosphate in a proper way. The main contents of the guideline are necessity of technics for use of sodium hydroxide and phosphate, current management state, and proper way of using them. Through providing this guideline, FDA is expecting the manufacturers to use the sodium hydroxide and phosphate properly and the consumers’ anxiety towards the food additives to reduce.

RDA is educating the staff and the farmers in order to promote the rice consumption [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53898

The Rural Development Administration is planning to do some education about domestic rice in order to promote the rice consumption. There is going to be a workshop hosted at the aT center and for the staff of food service company including the farmers will be educated after the workshop. The education will be about the awareness of importance of eating rice which is expected to promote the rice consumption.

Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries are organizing new agrifood fund of funds [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53899

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries are planning to organize 6 different kinds of funds for agrifood and their size is approximately 84 billion. The Korean government is investing 50 billion and other private companies are investing 34 billion together. By organizing the funds, the agrifood management system will have even more support. Also, the ministry has plans to improve the policy in order to make investment more active.

Anti-corruption and Civil Rights Commission is operating reporting period of illegal circulation of agrifood [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53902

In advance to Korean big holiday Lunar New Year’s Day, the Anti-corruption and Civil Rights Commission is operating a concentrated reporting period of agrifood. They are having this period in order to prevent any kinds of act that would be a threat to the public health. Such act would be false signing of origin of the country and manufacturing, importing, and selling hazardous food. The reporter’s anonymity should guarantee of a person’s status.

The symposium for rice industry’s technical development is held at Rural Development Administration’s auditorium. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53930

The technical development symposium for local rice industry will be held at the auditorium on Feb 11^th. The symposium is about sharing the information; new technology of cultivating crops, state of distribution, the direction of progress, and the applying its technology into real field. Due to the rice tariffication our local rice industries are facing some challenges, and by opening this symposium, it is expected for the related organizations to share the information and communicate.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is having joint session with foreign resident officers of other related organizations [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53905

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is having joint session with foreign resident officers of related organizations. This session is held to enhance the mutual interchange, share the direction of policy, and make presentation and discussion of the current events. This convention is especially meaningful because it is held in 2 years and has lots of expectations.

Agricultural industry Monsanto is having a meeting at Seoul Plaza Hotel on Feb 11th. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53964

The multinational farming industry Monsanto is hosting a meeting in order to improve the agricultural productivity and provide sustainable farming solution. The ultimate goal of Monsanto R&D is to keep up the realization of sustainable agriculture in this world with population of 10 billion. They are trying to protect the agrifood from pest and disease and improve the surroundings using data. 2014, they invested 10% of their profit to the research.

Korea Food and Drug Administration declared that all the current circulated agrifood are safe. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53987

The FDA declared collected and examined the current circulated agrifood from Jan 19^th to Feb 13^th and declared that all the agrifood are suitable for standard. All the test results for residual insecticides, medical supplies, and heavy metals did not go beyond the limit. The FDA said they will do their best to make the safe agrifood circulation.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs made notice that there will be a revision for the policy. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=54003

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs made their notice that there will be a revision for the policy regarding the indication of agrifood’s country of origin. The revised version of the policy requires for agrifood to have the area name and country of origin on the same side and for processed food to have its agrifood on the main side if it already includes the area name in product name.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is releasing new handbook for exporting rice. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=54034

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is releasing a new handbook in order to support the export of local rice. Starting this year, rice tariffication is enforced following WTO agreement. The handbook contains procedure of exporting rice, trend of oversea markets and export industries’ demands etc. The ministry hopes that the handbook will be a lot of help.

FDA released code information for food safety. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=54041

The Korea FDA has integrated all the information about food safety from organizations and they released a code compilation in order to utilize them. The information network service for food safety will be operated from May. The advantages of using standard code for food safety are being able to process all the data by computer and check the results of toxic substances.

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forest and Fishery has forbidden the import of Hungarian poultry. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=54060

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forest and Fishery prohibited the Hungarian poultry from importing. According to Hungarian agriculture department, on 23^rd suspicious poultry at Bekes county was reported and on 24^th they received direct diagnosis of H5N8 HPAI. The department informed our ministry so that the ministry could take action towards the situation.

10. aT PUBLIC NOTICE OF STATE TRADING

Support the export of the food [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53773

Korea Food and Drug Administrator (FDA) declared that they have come up with a policy that could support the export of the food. The main contents are supporting U.S. FDA, enhancing the standard of exporting country, and helping with the management afterwards. By coming up with this policy, FDA is expecting to break down the barrier of exporting so that Korea can export various kinds of food.

Market information of major exporting countries [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53774

The Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Rural Affairs are providing the result of the investigation based on the market information of major exporting countries. The investigation includes guidance of Korean agrifood, the exporting countries’ standard on importing food, and trend of American FDA’s nutrition labeling. Korean government and the ministry are fully supporting the Korean food industries to export different kinds of products by providing such information.

Regulation to recognize the country of origin easily [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53794

Korean custom service has provided a policy so that the consumers can recognize the country of origin easily. The policy requires them to put fonts bigger than 2.8mm. The imported products are supposed to have regulated fonts depending on the surface from Jan 30th 2016. This policy is carried out in order for customers to be well aware of the country of origin and also to have better circulation routine.

Paldo is planning to expand their exporting area [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53751

The amount of export has increased 10.9% according to Paldo. They exported to 64 countries and among those countries America has the highest record of the export amount which is about one fourth of the total. Paldo is planning to expand their exporting area with their new products.

The business contract between aT and the group ‘Hanlasan’ [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53876

The public corporation of Food, Agriculture and Fishery has made a contract with the Chinese group ‘Hanlasan’ at the aT center. The purpose of this business deal was to operate a food service educational program in order to make Korean food more competitive and to expand the opportunity to export the Korean ingredients. This contract is expected to be a foundation of broadening the opportunity of exporting Korean agrifood.

The Hanrabong and Cheonhyeyang are exported to USA [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=53833

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs have declared that Korean oranges, Hanrabong and Cheonhyeyang have reached a settlement of quarantine negotiation and hence they are now able to be exported to USA. According to the general administration of quarantine, the conditions for those fruits are similar to that of other Korean mandarins so there should not be any particular difficulties.

The aT is recruiting business man for direct dealing marketplace and local food shops. [SYH]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=54036

The aT is searching for new business operator for direct dealing marketplace and local food shops under the government’s new plan of vitalizing direct dealing of agrifood. The government is very positive and they are willing to support for the cost, education, and marketing.