How to Register a Food Additive Manufacturing Business — Facility Standards, Item Manufacturing Report and Self-Quality Inspection Cycle

Procedure

1. 1. Identify the type of business

   First distinguish whether you manufacture or process the product yourself, entrust it to another manufacturer and sell it under your own brand, or buy finished products and sell them. If you make it yourself, registration of a food additive manufacturing business applies; if you entrust it and sell it under your own brand, a distribution-specialized sales business report applies.

2. 2. Check the location and the building use

   Before signing a lease contract, check the use of the building and the restrictions on factory location. Divide the workplace into separate raw material storage, manufacturing and packaging spaces, and locate it away from sources of contamination.

3. 3. Install the facilities

   Applying the facility standards for the food manufacturing and processing business, provide a workplace, a warehouse, a testing room, water supply and drainage, toilets and so on. For the location and structure of the building and for the workplace, some standards may be applied differently if the registering authority finds that there is no concern of sanitary harm.

4. 4. Apply for registration after sanitation education

   Complete the sanitation education required before starting business, and submit the registration application form and the facility-related documents to the competent city, county or district (si/gun/gu) office. The registering authority checks the facilities and then issues the registration certificate.

5. 5. Item manufacturing report and self-quality inspection

   Once you start making products, report the fact of manufacture for each item. For food additives, test the ingredient specifications at least 1 time every 6 months; for sterilizers and disinfectants, test the sterilizing and disinfecting power. Keep the records.

Required documents

• Application form for business registration
• Food sanitation education completion certificate
• Floor plan of the workplace and facility layout plan
• Documents showing the right to use the premises, such as the building register and the lease contract
• Drinking water quality test report (when using water other than tap water, such as groundwater)
• List of testing room equipment, or a contract for entrusting the self-quality inspection
• Item manufacturing report form (for each item, after manufacturing starts)

Fees

Service fees in the industry for handling the registration range from several hundred thousand won up to the 1,000,000 won range and vary with the review of facility drawings and the number of items. Government fees and testing costs are separate. We will advise you after a consultation based on your facility plan.

See fees and official charges for this service →

Legal basis and review date

• Food Sanitation Act, Article 37
• Food Sanitation Act, Article 31
• Enforcement Decree of the Food Sanitation Act, Article 21
• Enforcement Decree of the Food Sanitation Act, Article 26-2
• Enforcement Rule of the Food Sanitation Act, attached Table 14

Checked against the statutes on 2026-10-01

Statutes and public notices change, so each case needs to be checked individually. Statute titles are given in English for reference. The Korean statutes are the authoritative text.

Check these first

• Before a lease contract or equipment installation work, check the use of the building and the location first.
• Self-quality inspection records are checked during official inspections, so keep the records for every cycle, with the results, without gaps.

Frequently asked questions