The first legislation for foods with health claims in Korea

The National Assembly of Korea enacted the Health/Functional Food Act (HFFA) in 2002, which required the Korea Food and Drug Administration, which was renamed the “Ministry of Food and Drug Safety” (MFDS), to promulgate new regulations for the approval of food supplements and functional food. The HFFA's most important accomplishment is the statutory definition of HFFs as food products, and the introduction of new considerations for reviewing the safety and effectiveness of functional ingredients. In addition, any label and advertisement regarding the efficacy of HFFs shall be approved before marketing by the advisory committee. Moreover, for the purpose of manufacturing and quality control of good HFFs, the MFDS may also designate good manufacturing practices. At present, there are about 301 ingredients including 205 product-specific ingredients and 96 generic ingredients.