Mayor Yeom Tae-young's Proposal for Extended HACCP Implementation Timeline for Small Food Businesses Realized

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Mayor Yeom Tae-young of Suwon City's continued request to the government for an 'extended implementation timeline for mandatory HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) certification for small-scale food businesses' has been realized.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 24th that "the mandatory implementation timeline for HACCP (hereinafter referred to as HACCP) certification for small-scale food manufacturing and processing businesses, which was scheduled to take effect from December 1st, will be postponed for one year." The exemption targets food manufacturing and processing businesses that produce eight types of foods including rice cakes, confectionery, and children's preferred foods on a small scale.

Small-scale food manufacturing businesses were required to renovate their facilities according to HACCP standards and establish systems by December 1st of this year, but they can now breathe a sigh of relief with the postponement of the mandatory implementation timeline.

To comply with HACCP standards, businesses must invest tens of millions to hundreds of millions of won, which has been a heavy burden for small-scale businesses struggling since the COVID-19 pandemic. Had they failed to obtain HACCP certification by December 1st, they would have faced business suspension.

On October 23rd, Mayor Yeom Tae-young submitted 'Extension of Mandatory HACCP Phase 4 Implementation Timeline' as a deliberation agenda at the regular meeting of the Gyeonggi Province Mayors and County Governors Association and requested recommendations to the central government.

He also actively pushed forward with extending the HACCP mandatory implementation timeline, proposing a 'one-year postponement of mandatory implementation' to the Democratic Party's Policy Committee and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety through the Democratic Party's Supreme Council.

On October 29th, he also explained the progress on his personal social media, stating: "At the Supreme Council meeting, I emphasized that it is necessary to extend the certification deadline considering the difficulties faced by small-scale food businesses that must obtain HACCP certification from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is currently reviewing the extension of the deadline."

Mayor Yeom Tae-young said, "I welcome the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's decision that empathizes with the people's difficulties," and added, "I hope the Ministry's decision to extend the HACCP mandatory implementation timeline provides some strength to small-scale business operators suffering from COVID-19."

He continued, "I support the employees of small-scale food businesses across the nation who have been making efforts to produce healthy food despite difficult circumstances."

The city is the first basic local government in the nation to provide HACCP consulting fee support to food manufacturing and processing businesses. Professional consulting companies provide consulting on ▲HACCP training for business operators and employees ▲development and management methods of business operators' prerequisite management standards ▲development and management methods of food safety management certification standards tailored to the characteristics of individual business establishments ▲post-certification maintenance and management of food HACCP, etc.

The HACCP certification exemption targets food manufacturing and processing businesses that registered for business before December 1st of this year and produce eight types of foods including children's preferred foods, with HACCP certification postponed until December 1st, 2021.

※Mandatory Target Foods: 1)Meat/Fish Sausage 2)Beverages (excluding coffee and tea beverages) 3)Special Purpose Foods 4)Chocolate Products 5)Cookies and Candies 6)Bread and Rice Cakes 7)Noodles and Deep-Fried Noodles 8)Ready-to-Eat Foods