Time: 11/12/2018

By: Ministry of industry and trade

Manufacturing and processing enterprises wishing to export agricultural and processed agricultural products to the Korean market should pay attention to the Korean Positive List System.

The Korean Positive List System, also known as the PLS (Positive List System), is applied by the Korean government according to the new method on all agricultural products imported from January 1, 2019.

Accordingly, food imported into Korea will undergo rigorous inspection steps, including surface inspection of records, field inspection of shipments. For imported agricultural products for the first time, Korea will conduct in-depth inspection. From the second import onwards, that agricultural product will be checked using the random sample method. In the case of agricultural products that did not meet the previous standards, Korea will conduct intensive inspection 5 times continuously for the next importation.

The in-depth inspection category for imported food includes 370 types of plant protection drugs, of which 134 types do not have standards for residue thresholds. For unregistered pesticides that set Maximum residue limit (MRLs), Korea will apply a general default residue level of 0.01 mg / kg.

MFDS also noted that Vietnamese enterprises, when exporting agricultural products to Korea, need to check if their agricultural products use plant protection products that are outside the list of products licensed by Korea, and whether it is in the allowable residue or not, via website www.foodsafetykorea.go.kr/foodcode. In case the product is outside the list of licensed plant protection products, enterprises can apply for certification of not exceeding the permitted residue level for such pesticides, through Korean pesticide companies, or register it directly to the MFDS.

References are attached below: