The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Monday it held its 16th Korea-China food safety cooperation meeting in Qingdao, China, and the 17th Korea-China Food Standards Expert Council in Jeju, both on May 28.
Under the new arrangement, Korean firms seeking to ship food to China had previously been required to file registrations with Chinese authorities themselves, but the ministry will now handle bulk registration for all categories except livestock products.
The change is expected to slash the registration period to about 10 days from roughly three months, the ministry said, with the revised rules likely to take effect in August. The National Food Safety Information Service plans to publish a report dissecting the detailed amendments to China's General Administration of Customs notice issued in March.
The talks also cleared meat-based instant noodles for export, a category long barred from the Chinese market. Such products may now enter China provided they use meat from approved countries and undergo proper heat treatment.
The agreement comes as K-food rides record momentum, with the country's food exports reaching $10.41 billion in 2025 and ramen alone topping $1.5 billion for the first time, up 21.9 percent on the year, the agriculture ministry said. Shipments to China, K-food's second-largest market, rose 5.1 percent to about $1.59 billion as spicy Korean varieties win shelf space.
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