APFRAS promotes international cooperation and regulatory coordination in the food sector and will host its second summit in Seoul. (Courtesy of MFDS) 

The second Asia-Pacific Food Regulatory Authority Summit (APFRAS), led by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), will be held from May 13-14 in Seoul. APFRAS was established in 2023 to address common global challenges and promote regulatory standardization in the food sector. This year’s APFRAS 2024 will be the second summit since Korea was elected as the organization’s inaugural chair for a three-year term.

The theme of this year’s summit is “New Pathways for Food Safety Innovation in the Asia-Pacific.” The summit will focus on analyzing the rapidly changing global food regulatory environment and discuss ways to collaborate on emerging food safety issues.

The first day of the summit is set to include a conference with a keynote address by Corinna Hawkes, Food Systems and Food Safety Division Director at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. She will speak on the “Importance of Strategic Collaboration to Global Food Regulatory Environment” as a prelude to a discussion among delegates from food regulatory agencies. Kim Sung-gon, Director General of the MFDS’s Food Safety Policy Bureau, will introduce Korea’s most prominent digital food safety management policies: SAFE-i 24, Smart HACCP and Smart Food QR. A representative of Pulmuone, a leading Korean food company, will give a presentation on the topic of the “Present and Future of Digital Food Safety Management on the Industrial Frontlines.”

A scene from APFRAS’s 2023 summit in Seoul (Courtesy of MFDS)

On May 14, the heads of national food regulatory agencies will hold a closed-door meeting to discuss future plans and adopt an agenda. Items to be discussed will include the establishment of a food regulatory information database, an analysis of the global food regulatory environment and reports on the activities of working groups.

During the summit, the MFDS will hold bilateral meetings with key countries in attendance to strengthen mutual cooperation on food regulations. In order to help K-foods expand overseas, the summit will also feature a meeting between the Director of the Vietnam Food Administration, Nguyen Thanh Phong, and members of Korea’s health functional food industry to discuss challenges related to the export of nutritional supplements. 

The MFDS will continue to help Korea stay at the forefront of international efforts to regulate food. Through APFRAS, the ministry plans to further strengthen cooperation with the other member countries to quickly identify new food safety issues and developments and help raise the level of food safety in the Asia-Pacific.