[Kim Taemin's Food and Drug Story] Can We Trust the Food Safety Management Certification System?

The commonality among the 2015 poultry cooperative defective eggs, the 2017 pesticide eggs, the 2018 Pulmuone frozen cake food poisoning, and the 2021 Dunkin' Donuts incident is that they all occurred at businesses that had passed the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) evaluation promoted by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

Besides the incidents mentioned above, almost all recent food-related cases involve companies that are thoroughly managed under the HACCP system. This is because all food companies with sales exceeding 10 billion KRW are legally required to obtain HACCP certification.

Previously, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety conducted HACCP evaluations directly. However, now almost all tasks have been delegated to the Korea Food Safety Management Certification Institute. As with other government certification systems, retired public officials become heads of the organization, and there are concerns that they focus only on securing their positions through external expansion such as budget increases and staff growth, which is why such issues arise.

Looking back to the past, during the 2015 pesticide egg scandal, it was revealed that among the 64 designated eco-friendly agricultural product certification bodies, 5 were led by retired officials from the Agricultural Products Quality Management Service, and among 649 certification auditors, 85 were former employees of the same agency, shocking everyone. Most of the problematic poultry farms had passed the eco-friendly evaluation, which led to growing calls to reform the related system and the institutions conducting these evaluations. However, the outcome was merely an increase in personnel and budget for these entities.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In February 2016, the organizations handling livestock products and processed foods, which had been operated separately, were integrated, and the Act on the Establishment and Operation of the Korea Food Safety Management Certification Institute was enacted. Currently, the institute is organized into six headquarters composed of a director and two full-time directors, six support offices, and two branch offices, carrying out food safety management certification work nationwide. Its responsibilities have expanded extensively to include not only food safety management certification but also testing and research projects, educational programs, hygiene grading systems for food service establishments, and strengthening safety management for imported and exported foods.

According to the Korea Food Safety Management Certification Institute's website, there are currently 8,302 HACCP-certified facilities for processed foods and 13,809 HACCP-certified facilities for livestock products. Since the approximately 20,000 business sites scattered nationwide are visited about once a year by staff working in six support offices and two branch offices, proper management is difficult to expect. Even with annual follow-up inspections, it is questionable whether they can be conducted thoroughly due to busy schedules.

A representative example is that after the recent Dunkin' Donuts incident, when Ministry of Food and Drug Safety officials conducted unannounced inspections based on food safety management certification standards, all five factories failed. While the company’s lack of preparation played a role, the fact that all five sites failed the unannounced inspection less than a year after receiving a passing grade in follow-up management indicates that the follow-up management itself is ineffective. If this is the case for a large corporation, the condition of the remaining more than 90% of small and medium-sized enterprises must be even more severe.

Despite this situation, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety continues to promote the HACCP system as a symbol of food safety and is only eager to appoint retired public officials as directors and board members of the Korea Food Safety Management Certification Institute. Since the institute’s establishment, there has never been a case of hiring external experts or promoting from within. If retired public officials are capable and qualified, no one should prevent them from freely utilizing their expertise and continuing their activities.

However, the story is different for an institution with the heavy responsibility of operating a system that continuously encounters problems. More responsible measures must be taken for consumers who trust and purchase food products based solely on the HACCP mark on packaging.

/Lawyer, Food Hygiene Law Research Institute