With increasing need to prevent serious
food allergy reactions, Korean
food allergen labeling
regulation has been revised repeatedly. This
paper aims to summarize current statuses of
food allergen labeling in
Korea and foreign countries and to analyze the issue of
food allergen labeling
regulation. Korean
food labeling regulation currently requires 19 items and 22
foods to be reported on labels (
eggs,
milk,
buckwheat,
peanut,
soybean,
wheat,
mackerel,
crab, shrimp,
pork,
peach,
tomato,
sulfite,
walnut,
chicken,
beef,
squid,
shellfish, and pine
nut). However, some common
food triggers (for example,
almond,
cashew nut, and kiwi
fruit) are not included in the current labeling
regulation. Another issue is that the Korean labeling
regulation has not yet been fully implemented for nonprepacked
foods; thus, consumers still have difficulty in correctly identifying allergenic ingredients in
food. It should be assessed whether
warning statements for cross-
contamination are reasonable. To prevent the occurrence of serious reactions from accidental
ingestion, efforts must be made to solve recently raised issues including the items required to be listed on
food labels, the system of
standards for labeling and display
methods.