Reference
The Korean terms that appear on approval records, certificates and supplier documents, with what each one actually means for a buyer. 15 terms.
| 건강기능식품 geon-gang-gi-neung-sik-pum | Health functional food The regulated product category in Korea. A food may only be sold as a health functional food if it uses an ingredient MFDS has approved, at an approved daily intake, and carries the approved functional wording. It is a food category, not a drug category — no product in it may claim to prevent or treat disease. Basis: Health Functional Foods Act |
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| 고시형 go-si-hyeong | Notified ingredient An ingredient listed in the MFDS public standards (공전). There is no approval holder: any manufacturer that meets the published specification may use the ingredient and its approved wording. Vitamins, minerals, red ginseng and probiotics are in this group. 96 ingredients are notified. Basis: Standards and Specifications for Health Functional Foods |
| 개별인정형 gae-byeol-in-jeong-hyeong | Individually approved ingredient An ingredient approved for one specific applicant. Only the approval holder — and manufacturers it authorises — may use that ingredient's approved wording. Another company wanting the same wording must obtain its own approval. This is the single most common misunderstanding in sourcing: seeing an ingredient approved in Korea does not mean your supplier may use its claim. Basis: Health Functional Foods Act, individual recognition |
| 공전 gong-jeon | MFDS public standards The published compendium 「Standards and Specifications for Health Functional Foods」. An ingredient listed here is notified (고시형). The compendium sets the specification a product must meet — appearance, marker compound content, heavy metal limits, residual solvents, microbiological limits. Basis: Standards and Specifications for Health Functional Foods |
| 기능성 원료 gi-neung-seong won-ryo | Functional ingredient An ingredient MFDS has evaluated and approved as having a physiological function. Approval attaches to the ingredient at a stated daily intake, not to a finished product. Basis: MFDS approval records |
| 기능성 내용 gi-neung-seong nae-yong | Approved functional wording The exact sentence MFDS approved. It is a regulated string: it may be reproduced but not paraphrased, strengthened or extended. This site reproduces it in Korean character for character for that reason. Basis: MFDS approval records |
| 인정번호 in-jeong-beon-ho | Recognition number The identifier MFDS assigns to an individual approval, in the form 제2020-1호 (year and sequence). Notified ingredients have no recognition number — they carry a compendium entry number instead. Basis: MFDS approval records |
| 인정 영업자 in-jeong yeong-eop-ja | Approval holder The company that holds an individual approval. Named in the approval record. Only this company's authorised supply chain may use the approved wording. Basis: MFDS approval records |
| 일일섭취량 il-il-seop-chwi-ryang | Daily intake as approved The intake range MFDS approved for the ingredient, for example 30–1,000 mg per day. A product must fall inside this range to carry the functional wording. This is not the same number as the daily reference value below. Basis: MFDS approval records |
| 1일 영양성분 기준치 il-il yeong-yang-seong-bun gi-jun-chi | Daily reference value The labelling figure used to express a nutrient amount as a percentage on the label. It is neither a recommended intake nor an upper limit, and it is set separately in each market — Korea, the US, the EU and Japan all use different values for the same nutrient. Vitamin C, for example, has an approved functional intake of 30–1,000 mg and a Korean daily reference value of 100 mg. Basis: Enforcement Rule of the Food Labelling and Advertising Act, Annex 5 |
| 규격 gyu-gyeok | Specification The limits an ingredient must meet — appearance, marker compound content, heavy metals, residual solvents, coliforms, total bacterial count. For notified ingredients these are published in the compendium and are what a buyer's certificate of analysis should be read against. Basis: Standards and Specifications for Health Functional Foods |
| 지표성분 ji-pyo-seong-bun | Marker compound The compound measured to confirm an ingredient is present at the required amount — for example silymarin in milk thistle extract. The specification states how much must be present. Basis: Standards and Specifications for Health Functional Foods |
| GMP 지정업소 GMP ji-jeong-eop-so | GMP-designated facility A manufacturing site MFDS has designated as meeting Good Manufacturing Practice for health functional food. Designation is to the site, not to the brand that sells the product, so a brand's claim to be GMP-certified should be checked against the site that actually manufactures it. Basis: MFDS GMP designation records |
| 반입차단 ban-ip-cha-dan | Blocked from personal import An ingredient or compound barred from entering Korea through personal overseas purchase. A block is about import into Korea and says nothing about the status of that ingredient in your own market. Basis: MFDS |
| 식품의약품안전처 sik-pum-ui-yak-pum-an-jeon-cheo | Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) The Korean authority that approves functional ingredients, publishes the compendium, designates GMP facilities and maintains the public data this site is built from. Basis: MFDS |
Notified (고시형) and individually approved (개별인정형) are not degrees of the same thing. A notified ingredient is open to anyone meeting the specification. An individually approved ingredient belongs to its approval holder, and the approved wording travels with that holder — not with the ingredient. A supplier offering you an individually approved ingredient should be able to show you either the approval in its own name or its authorisation from the holder.
Individually approved ingredients have no official English name. MFDS approves them under a Korean name, and inventing an English one would create a term that matches no regulatory record — which is worse than leaving it untranslated, because it looks authoritative and cannot be verified. Notified ingredients do have established English names and we use them.
Approved ingredients · Buyer FAQ · Datasets · Sourcing from Korea