[Press Release, May 4, 2020 / unofficial translation'] The MFDS Supporting Safe Food for Children - On Children’s Day, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, announces plans for strengthening food safety management systems for children - □ The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Minister Lee Eui-Kyung), in celebration of Children’s Day, introduces the main content of a policy for enhancing children’s* food safety which will be promoted this year so that children can have safe and healthy eating habits. * "Children” refers to students of elementary/middle/high schools and special-education schools as well as persons falling under the definition of “child” (below the age of 18 ) under the Child Welfare Act. ○ This year, the Ministry carries out various policies including ▲continuous expansion of hygiene/nutritional support for children’s food services, ▲improvement of food hygiene grades near schools, and ▲the reinforcement of the safety management system of businesses producing children’s favorite foods. □ (Expansion of hygiene support for food services for children) The Ministry increases a national support to 90% so that daycare centers/kindergartens with less than 100 children and with no nutritionist can receive hygiene/nutritional management for meals through a Center for Child-care Food service Management. * Rate of hygiene/nutritional support on meals for less than 100 children: (‘19) 78 → (’20) 90 ○ To this end, we will establish four additional Centers for Child-care Food service Management (3 in Seoul, 1 in Gangjin-gun) this year (224 locations → 228 locations), and, by providing support to regions without a center from a Central Center for Child-care Food service Management, we will manage the system without any blind spot. □ (Improving food safety near schools) The Ministry propels the expansion of areas where the restriction on the sale of highly caffeinated beverages (containing 150mg/kg caffeine or more) are restricted, from school snack stores to the entirety of children’s food safety protection zones (within 200 m around a school), to prevent teenagers’ excessive caffeine consumption. * Rate of middle/high school students consuming highly caffeinated beverages more than 3 times a week (%): (’15) 3.3 → (’17) 8.0 → (’19) 12.2 ○ Furthermore, we will facilitate a designation of “ Hygiene Grade Certificate*” targeting cooking/selling businesses, including snack bars, etc., within children's food safety protection zones, and will disclose a result of comprehensive evaluation on restaurants’ hygiene levels and status of regulation conformity, by regions.. * Hygiene Grade Certificate: A system of evaluating the level of hygiene of general restaurants and giving the certificate to businesses that received excellent results [Excellent (★★★), Very Good (★★), Good (★)] □ (Strengthening safety standards for children's foods) We will make businesses producing children’s favorite foods* , such as snacks/candies, mandatorily follow food safety management certification standards (HACCP) in December this year, and will strengthen guidance/inspection for cooking/selling businesses near schools. * "Children’s favorite foods” refers to snacks, candies, breads, chocolates, carbonated beverages, kimbab, hamburger, ice creams, etc. which are preferred by or frequently consumed by children. ○ To better provide nutritional information , we will improve the system to label Nutritional Facts based on “Daily Value for infants/young children,” and - we will expand the scope of restaurants subject to labeling Nutritional Facts for children’s favorite foods from more than 100 main restaurants to more than 50 franchises. ○ Furthermore, we have prohibited the use of 40 types of additives, including colorings, in health functional foods consumed by children, and carry out National Residue Program to detect substances such as antibiotic in milk. □ (Educational support for children’s eating habits) Since children’s outdoor activities decreased due to COVID-19, we will strengthen educational support to reduce concerns of nutritional imbalances due to a lack of exercise and form children’s healthy eating habits. ○ We will support* students to receive classes on eating habits by creating food safety/nutrition textbooks based on unique characteristics of elementary/middle/high school students, and will carry out job competency strengthening education targeting nutrition teachers and nutritionists. * Utilizing textbooks for field trips to improve eating habits for elementary school students, free semester system-related educational programs for middle school students, and career choice classes for high school students □ (Strengthening safety management system of imported food products for children and infants) The Ministry will strengthen import and distribution process inspections on food products for infants/young children, etc. ○ We will increase the rate of inspections for clearance procedures* for the imports of high calorie/low nutrition food products for children, Special Dietary Use for infants/young children, products indicating infants/young children as subjects of consumption, etc. and will strengthen the collection/examination of foods preferred by children which have passed document inspections. * Increased rate of inspections for clearance procedures: starter and follow-on formula (6%→12%), food products for infants/young children (6%→8%) ○ Regarding milk powdered formula products entering the country via overseas direct purchase, we will check whether any prohibited ingredients are used and, through ‘food poisoning bacteria’ inspections, we will disclose information on nonconforming products to consumers. □ The Minister of Food and Drug Safety, Lee Eui-Kyung, stated that the Ministry will work together with the public to ensure that the children, our future leaders, can grow up in a safe and healthy way, and also added that the Ministry will overhaul related statutes and systems to raise the level of safety management systems for children’s foods.