Label rules › South Korea

South Korea food label requirements: the Food Labeling and Advertising Act

Food sold in South Korea is labelled in Korean under the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Foods (2019) and the labelling standards of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS). Since 1 January 2023 the date on the pack is the use-by date (소비기한). Packaging also carries the separate-disposal mark of the Act on the Promotion of Saving and Recycling of Resources.

Checked: 29 October 2026

Mandatory items

The information panel

Product name, food type, item report number, business name and address, use-by date, net contents and energy, ingredients, allergens, nutrition, storage and cautions sit in one panel, in type of at least 10 point. Imported food may carry the Korean label as a sticker that does not come off easily and does not hide the original’s required items.

Allergens and nutrition

Allergens on the MFDS list are declared in their own box on the panel. In August 2026 the MFDS proposed adding sesame, perilla seed, almond and cashew; check whether it has been adopted. Nutrition is declared for the nine nutrients with their % of daily values.

Electronic labels

The MFDS is moving part of the information behind a QR code so the printed panel keeps the essentials — name, use-by date, allergens, storage — in larger type. Follow the final notice for your food type before dropping anything from the pack.

Why the rules look like this

Korea rewrites its labels to change behaviour — to cut waste, then to make labels readable:

1. 2019 — the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Foods splits labelling out of the Food Sanitation Act, so one law now governs both what the pack says and what the ad says. A claim on the box is judged like a claim in a commercial.
2. 2023 — the sell-by date gives way to the use-by date after decades of shoppers throwing away food still safe to eat; the government expected large savings in food waste. A Korean date now means “safe until”, so do not shorten it for marketing.
3. 2025–2026 — the MFDS moves non-essential information behind QR codes and proposes more allergens (sesame, perilla, almond, cashew) after reports of reactions. The printed panel gets fewer items in larger type — plan artwork for the change.

Seasons that sell packs

Seollal and Chuseok gift sets are Korea’s packaging peaks — and the most regulated: under the packaging standards of the Ministry of Environment a gift set may have at most two layers and 25% empty space, and inspectors measure them in department stores every season. Pepero Day on 11 November sells stick-biscuit boxes by the million, and delivery boxes from online shops face their own limits on empty space and layers.

Who answers for the label

The business operator who makes, imports or sells the food — the one whose name is on the panel — and, under dual liability, both the employee who acted and the company.

The designer and the printer are not named by these laws — but a contract can make them pay for the reprint. Keep the client’s written approval of the final copy; Drint’s review link records it.

If the label is wrong

The MFDS can order a recall, suspend the product’s manufacture or the business for days to months, and publish the violation; false or exaggerated claims carry criminal penalties. A missing allergen or a wrong date is among the most common reasons for recalls announced on the food safety portal. For gift sets, local governments fine over-packaging found in department stores during the holiday inspections.

Who else loses, beyond the fine

A wrong label costs more than its fine, and the cost travels down the chain:

1. The shopper — an undeclared allergen can put someone in hospital; that is why recalls for allergens move fastest.
2. The brand — a recall notice with its name stays online for years, and retailers may delist the product.
3. The importer and distributor — stock held at the port or in a warehouse, storage fees, relabelling labour, sometimes a whole container sent back.
4. The shop — products immobilised or pulled from shelves in the middle of a season.
5. The printer — a reprint at its own cost if the contract says so, and a lost client either way.
6. The designer — the reprint blamed on the artwork, unless the client’s approval is on record.

The principal panel and the information panel

The principal display panel shows the product name and the net contents with their energy (e.g. “500 g (1,250 kcal)”). The other items go into the information panel, in type of at least 10 point; when the pack’s labelling area is very small, the standard allows smaller type. The use-by date is written as year, month, day with “까지”, or as the printed date with an arrow to where it is.

Mistakes, and a check before printing

The usual problems: an old sell-by date (유통기한) still printed; allergens only in the ingredient list and not in their own box; foreign words larger than the Korean; the separate-disposal mark missing or without its material word.

1. Put the name and the net contents with energy on the front.
2. Set the information panel at 10 point or more.
3. Write 소비기한, never 유통기한.
4. Repeat the allergens in a separate box.
5. Print the separate-disposal mark with the material (페트, 플라스틱, 비닐, 캔, 종이팩…).

Cosmetics and other goods

Cosmetics follow the Cosmetics Act: the pack gives the product name, the name and address of the responsible seller, all ingredients, the contents, the batch number, and the use-by date or the period after opening, in Korean. Electrical goods, children’s products and many household goods carry the KC certification mark of the Korea Certification system, with the model and the certificate number where the rules ask.

Worked example: a 200 g box of butter cookies

Made in Vietnam and sold in South Korea, the pack reads, line by line (the client’s own names and numbers replace those in brackets):

1. 제품명: 버터 쿠키 · 식품유형: 과자
2. 내용량: 200 g ([ ] kcal)
3. 원재료명: 밀가루(밀), 버터(우유), 설탕, 계란, 정제소금, 탄산수소나트륨
4. 소비기한: [2027.10.29]까지
5. 보관방법: 직사광선을 피해 서늘하고 건조한 곳에 보관
6. 수입판매원: [명칭], [소재지] · 원산지: 베트남
7. 알레르기 유발물질: 밀, 우유, 계란 함유
8. 영양정보: 총 내용량 200 g, 열량·나트륨·탄수화물·당류·지방·트랜스지방·포화지방·콜레스테롤·단백질과 1일 영양성분 기준치 비율
9. 분리배출: 종이 / 비닐류

Why it reads this way

The energy follows the net contents on the front; the allergens sit again in their own box; the box (paper) and the inner bag (vinyl) each carry a separate-disposal mark.

How Drint helps

Three kinds of people make packs for South Korea with Drint, and each needs something different:

Free, no account: the barcode generator, the mm to inches converter and the paper sizes table.

1. A business with its own brand — Drint has no label kit for South Korea yet, so the checklist on this page is your check before export. See the pack in 3D before it is printed, send the design to the person who must approve it with a review link, and hand the printer one CMYK PDF/X-4 with the die on its own layer, so nobody retypes the label.
2. A household business — start from a ready dieline cut to your exact box or bag size instead of paying for a die drawing, use your own photos on 3D mockups for your online shop, and keep the mandatory text exactly as you wrote it: Drint never translates or rewords a client’s copy.
3. A designer — lay out several markets from one design, each with its own language and items, keep every client’s approvals in one place, and show finished packs on a portfolio page at drint.io/your-name.

Laying it out in Drint

1. Drint has no label kit for South Korea yet: add a text block for each item of the table above, in the order the law lists them.
2. Paste the client’s copy as they wrote it — Drint does not translate or reword it.
3. Place official marks (symbols, numbers, logos) from the authority’s own files at their stated size; export the CMYK PDF/X-4 with the die on its own layer for your printer.

Official sources

1. 식품의약품안전처
2. 국가법령정보센터
3. 한국환경공단 (분리배출 표시)

Drint checks this label while you design, for 47 countries: see how the label-law check works.

Lay out the label in Drint

Questions

A summary written to design packs, not legal advice. Check the MFDS labelling standards (식품등의 표시기준) for your food type, and the separate-disposal marking guide, before printing.