Change from Sell-by Date to Use-by Date

The ACT ON LABELING AND ADVERTISING OF FOODS (식품 등의 표시ㆍ광고에 관한 법률) is the basic regulation prescribing the labeling of foods (all types of foods and beverages excluding the one taken as medicine), food additives (substances used in foods for the purpose of sweetening, coloring, bleaching or antioxidation in the process of manufacturing, processing, cooking or preserving foods), apparatus (machines,  utensils or other goods which come into direct contact with foods or food additives), containers or packages (goods used for packing or wrapping foods or food additives), health functional foods (foods manufactured or processed with functional raw materials or ingredients beneficial to human health), and livestock products (meat, packaged meat, raw milk, edible eggs, processed meat products, processed milk products, and processed egg products).

 

Article 4 (1) of the Act was changed in August 2021 as follows, which shall come into force as of Jan. 1, 2023.

Article 4 (Labeling Standards) (1) A food, etc. shall be labeled with the following information: Provided, That part of the following information may be stated on the label of a food, etc. in any case prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister: 1. Food, food additive or livestock product: (a) Product name, net quantity and names of ingredients; (b) Name and location of the place of business; (c) Warnings for consumer safety; (d) Date of manufacture, sell-by date or best before date; (e) Any other necessary matters prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister to provide consumers with information about the food, food additive or livestock product; 2. Apparatus, container or package: (a) Material; (b) Name and location of the place of business; (c) Warnings for consumer safety; (d) Any other necessary matters prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister to provide consumers with information about the apparatus, container or package; 3. Health functional food: (a) Product name, net quantity and names of ingredients; (b) Name and location of the place of business; (c) Sell-by date and storage instructions; (d) Dosage, suggested use and warnings of use; (e) An expression or mark describing that the product is a functional health food; (f) A statement that this health functional food is not a drug intended to prevent, treat or cure any disease; (g) Information about functions as defined in subparagraph 2 of Article 3 of the Health Functional Foods Act and the contents of ingredients, etc. that has the asserted functional effect in the raw materials; (h) Any other necessary matters prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister to provide consumers with information about the health functional food.

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Article 4 (Labeling Standards) (1) A food, etc. shall be labeled with the following information: Provided, That part of the following information may be stated on the label of a food, etc. in any case prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister: 1. Food, food additive or livestock product: (a) Product name, net quantity and names of ingredients; (b) Name and location of the place of business; (c) Warnings for consumer safety; (d) Date of manufacture, use-by date or best before date; (e) Any other necessary matters prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister to provide consumers with information about the food, food additive or livestock product; 2. Apparatus, container or package: (a) Material; (b) Name and location of the place of business; (c) Warnings for consumer safety; (d) Any other necessary matters prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister to provide consumers with information about the apparatus, container or package; 3. Health functional food: (a) Product name, net quantity and names of ingredients; (b) Name and location of the place of business; (c) Use-by date and storage instructions; (d) Dosage, suggested use and warnings of use; (e) An expression or mark describing that the product is a functional health food; (f) A statement that this health functional food is not a drug intended to prevent, treat or cure any disease; (g) Information about functions as defined in subparagraph 2 of Article 3 of the Health Functional Foods Act and the contents of ingredients, etc. that has the asserted functional effect in the raw materials; (h) Any other necessary matters prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister to provide consumers with information about the health functional food.

While the sell-by date (유통기한) stipulates the date when the foods, etc. can be sold to consumers, the use-by date (소비기한) stipulates the date when the foods, etc. can be safely eaten by consumers if the storage conditions are observed. Sell-by date is set at 60 ∼ 70 % of the quality and safety limit, whereas use-by date is set at 80 ∼ 90 %.

Although foods that are past the sell-by date can be eaten for some period of time, people usually misunderstand that they shall be discarded or are confused about the time limit when the foods can be safely eaten. Thanks to the change of labeling, it is expected that food wastes will be reduced – annual economic benefit would be KRW 886 billion and 26 billion for consumers and companies respectively.

Foods, etc. manufactured or imported from Jan. 1, 2023 shall have the indication of sell-by date. Notwithstanding, the MFDS (Ministry of Food and Drug Safety) set the enforcement date as Jan. 1, 2031 for milk and reconstituted milk that shall be refrigerated.

The method of labeling the use-by date is the same as the sell-by date. As it is hard to change the labeling at once, the MFDS allows food manufacturers or importers to indicate the use-by date prior to Jan. 1, 2023. But they should try to notify consumers of the prior application of use-by date through their homepage or selling websites. In addition, the MFDS allows food manufacturers or importers to use the sell-by-date-printed packages until Dec. 31, 2023 so that they can use up existing packaging materials.

The MFDS Notification, STANDARDS FOR SETTING THE USE-BY DATE OF FOODS, FOOD ADDITIVES, LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS, AND HEALTH FUNCTIONAL FOODS (식품, 식품첨가물, 축산물 및 건강기능식품의 소비기한 설정기준) was announced. The use-by date can be set based on the experiment as prescribed in the Notification. In the case of setting the use-by date within the recommended use-by date determined by the MFDS or the use-by date which has been set for the product of the same kind (the same in food type, state, packaging material and method, storage and distribution temperature, use of preservatives, fried or oil-treated, and pasteurization or sterilization method), or based on the authoritative thesis or report, the experiment for setting the use-by date can be omitted.

 

It is recommended to newly set the use-by date. However, considering the food manufacturers or importers’ capacities, it is allowed to use the date set according to the previous MFDS Notification, STANDARDS FOR SETTING THE SELL-BY DATE OF FOODS, FOOD ADDITIVES, LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS, AND HEALTH FUNCTIONAL FOODS (식품, 식품첨가물, 축산물 및 건강기능식품의 유통기한 설정기준) as the use-by date.

 

In the case of imported foods, etc., the date indicated as ‘expiration date’, ‘sell-by date’, or ‘best before’ shall be the use-by date (소비기한) in the Korean labeling. In importing OEM foods, etc., if the existing sell-by date is to be used as the use-by date, the statement of setting the sell-by date, prepared according to the STANDARDS FOR SETTING THE SELL-BY DATE OF FOODS, FOOD ADDITIVES, LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS, AND HEALTH FUNCTIONAL FOODS,  is still valid. However, if the extended date is to be indicated as the use-by date, the statement of setting the use-by date, prepared according to the STANDARDS FOR SETTING THE USE-BY DATE OF FOODS, FOOD ADDITIVES, LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS, AND HEALTH FUNCTIONAL FOODS, shall be submitted.

 

As the sell-by date is shorter than the use-by date, it complies with the changed regulation to simply change the wording of the sell-by date (유통기한) to the use-by date (소비기한). However, in the long term, it would be beneficial for us all and the Earth to extend the date which shall be indicated in the foods, etc.