1. Reason for Revision and Main Contents

As the Food Sanitation Act (Law No. 19917; promulgated on January 2, 2024; effective from January 3, 2025) has been revised to require the operators of businesses that manufacture or process food delegated by the Act to take contamination prevention measures and report to the Minister of Food and Drug Safety without delay when foreign substances are or may be mixed into food due to industrial accidents.

To ensure stable performance of administrative duties, the revision stipulates that the work of receiving contamination accident reports and conducting on-site investigations assigned to the Minister of Food and Drug Safety should be delegated to the heads of regional food and drug safety offices; and, to create a safe food consumption environment, it includes a new provision for the imposition of fines on those operators who refuse or obstruct on-site investigations related to contamination accidents.