Disclosure of the Amount of Harmful Substance Contained in Foods (KR0043)

Disclosure of the Amount of Harmful Substance Contained in Foods
Commitment Start and End Date
September 1, 2018 ~ August 31, 2020
Lead Implementing Agency/Actor
Residues and Contaminants Standard Division, Ministry of Food and Drug Safety
Commitment Description
What is the public problem that the commitment will address?
While there is a growing risk of food contamination due to environmental pollution, climate change and changing eating habits, the public has raised the bar on food safety as the income level goes up. However, the mere fact that harmful substance is contained in foods becomes social issues or negative news spreads due to lack of accurate information on the level of contamination. Therefore, a proactive response is called for in order to eliminate public anxiety over food safety.
What is the commitment?
This commitment is about making the following information publically available: the amount of harmful substance contained in foods largely and frequently consumed by the public (19 types). The changes in the amount of harmful substance contained in foods as a result of global warming and environmental pollution are continuously made available to the public. Such changes include the following raw data: the food type (item), the manufacturer/producer country, the area of production, the area of collection and the detected amount. The public’s anxiety over the food safety could be relieved, and citizens would be given choices for healthy foods as the aforementioned information is made publically available
How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem?
The detailed implementation methods are as follows: 1) to create and update a database with the information on the level of contamination of foods every five years and provide ‘the harmful substance quick search service’ to allow convenient search; 2) to provide detailed information on types of inspected foods, items, manufacturer and producer countries, areas of collection, places of collection (small, medium and largesized supermarkets and traditional market places), the level of contamination by food in downloadable files for research purposes; 3) to share the management approach with the public according to the findings through disclosing the reevaluation report on standards
Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values?
Enhancing Transparency / Citizen Participation
Exchange and Peer Learning
N/A
Additional Information
Supplementary budget needed to add 20,000 data sets to the DB per year
Milestone Activity with a Verifiable Deliverable
Inspecting the level of contamination of highly and frequently consumed foods (19 types)
Disclosing the level of contamination of 8 types of fungal toxin (Quick search, research materials, the reevaluation report)
Disclosing the level of contamination of dioxin and PCBs (Quick search, research materials, the reevaluation report)
Disclosing the level of contamination of benzopyrene (Quick search, research materials, the reevaluation report)
Disclosing the level of contamination of 3-MCPD and melamine (Quick search, research materials, the reevaluation report)
Disclosing the level of contamination of 6 types of heavy metal (Quick search, research materials, the reevaluation report)
Contact Information
Name of Responsible Person from Implementing Agency
Miok Eom
Title, Division
Residues, Contaminants Standard Division
Email and Phone
miokeom@korea.kr, +82-43-719-3853
Other Actors Involved,
N/A

7. Disclosure of the Amount of Harmful Substance Contained in Foods

Commitment Text:

"Disclosure of the Amount of Harmful Substance Contained in Foods"

This commitment is about making the following information publically available: the amount of harmful substance contained in foods largely and frequently consumed by the public (19 types). The changes in the amount of harmful substance contained in foods as a result of global warming and environmental pollution are continuously made available to the public. Such changes include the following raw data: the food type (item), the manufacturer/producer country, the area of production, the area of collection and the detected amount. The public's anxiety over the food safety could be relieved, and citizens would be given choices for healthy foods as the aforementioned information is made publically available.

The detailed implementation methods are as follows:

1) to create and update a database with the information on the level of contamination of foods every five years and provide 'the harmful substance quick search service' to allow convenient search;

2) to provide detailed information on types of inspected foods, items, manufacturer and producer countries, areas of collection, places of collection (small, medium and large sized supermarkets and traditional market places), the level of contamination by food in downloadable files for research purposes;

3) to share the management approach with the public according to the findings through disclosing the reevaluation report on standards

Milestones:

• Inspecting the level of contamination of highly and frequently consumed foods (19 types)
• Disclosing the level of contamination of 8 types of fungal toxin (Quick search, research materials, the reevaluation report)
• Disclosing the level of contamination of dioxin and PCBs (Quick search, research materials, the reevaluation report)
• Disclosing the level of contamination of benzopyrene (Quick search, research materials, the reevaluation report)
• Disclosing the level of contamination of 3-MCPD and melamine (Quick search, research materials, the reevaluation report)
• Disclosing the level of contamination of 6 types of heavy metal (Quick search, research materials, the reevaluation report)

Start Date: 1 September 2018 End Date: 31 August 2020

Editorial Note: For the full text of the commitment, please see Korea's 4th National Action Plan 2018-2020 at https://bit.ly/2JvQr98.

Context and Objectives

The purpose of this commitment is to increase access to information on the amount of harmful substances in food frequently consumed by the public. The commitment will create a regularly updated database containing relevant information, with downloadable files for research purposes. Additionally, it will publish reports on how the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) reevaluates standards. This commitment stands to alleviate public concerns about food safety and empower citizens to make healthier choices.

This commitment is verifiable as it outlines measurable milestones, such as disclosing specific toxin levels in 19 types of frequently consumed food. Although the "quick search" and "downloadable files" text confirms that the information will be available online, the commitment does not specify if the information also will be shared offline.

This commitment is relevant to the OGP value of access to information as it endeavors to publicly disclose government-held information pertaining to the safety of food. It is also relevant to the value of technology and innovation for transparency as it aims to disclose this information on an online platform built for this purpose.

Environmental pollution and climate change have increased the risk of food being contaminated with harmful substances. The MFDS commenced research into the extent of food contamination in 2015, [32] with longitudinal case reports being published on a dedicated food safety website. [33] This commitment improves accessibility to this data by reformatting the database. [34] Specifically, key monitoring data (including details on harmful substances) and data on the geographic origin of the food will be categorized and published in an open and accessible manner. [35] Therefore, this commitment stands to have a positive but incremental impact on alleviating public concerns around food safety.

Next steps

Increasing access to information on harmful substances in food empowers the public to make healthier consumption choices. If this commitment is carried forward into future action plans, the IRM recommends building on existing efforts to raise ambition in the following ways:

• Allowing citizens to submit special inquiries into the amount of harmful substances found in an expanded category of food types;
• Establishing and publishing a clear protocol and timeline for responsible stakeholders to provide reasoned responses to citizen inquiries about contamination; and
• Regularly publishing and disseminating findings on contamination levels in key items through offline channels, such as leaflets or media, to facilitate wider public reach, and engaging educators to ensure that youth are aware of such information as well.

7. Disclosure of the Amount of Harmful Substance Contained in Foods

Complete:

Information on contamination from harmful substances, fungal toxins, dioxin, PCBs, benzopyrene, 3-MCPD, and melamine has been published on the Food Safety Korea website. IRM requested information on the number of food groups included on the database, how often data is updated, and on citizen engagement during implementation, but did not receive a response from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, who is responsible for implementing this commitment.