O Yu-kyung, MFDS Commissioner, Visits GF Fermentec, a Subsidiary of Xenofocus, Vitamin K2 Production Plant.

Genofocus announced on the 16th that Oh Yu-kyung, Commissioner of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (hereinafter MFDS), visited the vitamin K2 production site of its subsidiary GF Permantec to check the progress of regulatory innovation related to health functional foods (hereinafter HFF).

This visit was part of the MFDS's Food and Drug Regulatory Innovation 2.0 project announced in June this year. It was conducted to review the progress of regulatory innovation tasks aimed at expanding HFF nutritional ingredient raw materials that are already used in major overseas countries but have not been permitted in Korea. In September, the MFDS announced a revision of the "Standards and Specifications for Food Additives," which included newly listing vitamin K2 as a food additive through an administrative notice. Subsequently, the "Standards and Specifications for Health Functional Foods" will also be revised to allow vitamin K2 as an HFF nutritional ingredient.

Commissioner Oh toured the vitamin K2 production site and listened to industry opinions on the expected effects of permitting vitamin K2 as an HFF nutritional ingredient. There was also time to discuss support measures to revitalize HFF, including opinions on expanding nutritional ingredients.

Until now, only vitamin K1 has been listed as a raw material for vitamin K in the Health Functional Food Code, so vitamin K2 could not be used as an HFF ingredient. Once this regulatory innovation task is completed, vitamin K2 will be available for consumption as an HFF, and the vitamin K2 market is expected to expand significantly.

Vitamin K2 is known to help prevent and improve osteoporosis by activating the osteocalcin enzyme, which aids calcium absorption into bones, and also activates the MGP (Matrix Gla Protein) enzyme that regulates calcium metabolism in blood vessels, preventing calcification caused by calcium accumulation in blood vessels, thereby contributing to cardiovascular health.

GF Permantec is the third company in the world and the only one in Korea to produce vitamin K2 through microbial fermentation. In particular, it produces and purifies vitamin K2 using an eco-friendly supercritical extraction method instead of organic solvent extraction and applies encapsulation technology to maintain activity, boasting excellent quality. Based on this, it has been exporting all its products to the United States, China, and Europe, but with the recent approval of vitamin K2 as a food additive, it is expected that domestic sales will also increase significantly.

Han Jung-jun, co-CEO of GF Permantec, said, “Although we succeeded in manufacturing vitamin K2 with proprietary technology developed domestically, it was regrettable that it could not be used in domestic health functional foods until now. We expect that being able to utilize the vitamin K2 we produce directly in health functional foods will help improve public health and strengthen the competitiveness of HFF.”

A Genofocus official said, "If vitamin K2 is approved as an HFF through this MFDS regulatory innovation, the sales of our subsidiary GF Permantec are expected to increase significantly from next year, leading to improved performance for Genofocus," adding, "We will actively work to expand the vitamin K2 market centered on GF Permantec, which holds the only vitamin K2 production technology in Korea."