HACCP Certification Application Procedure and Documents — Mandatory Products, 3-Year Validity, Renewal 60 Days Before Expiry

Procedure

1. 1. Check whether HACCP is mandatory for your products

   Article 62 of the Enforcement Rule of the Food Sanitation Act lists mandatory foods, including fish cakes and fish sausages, frozen fish, mollusks and seasoned processed products, frozen pizza, dumplings and noodles, confectionery, candy, bread and rice cakes, ice confections, beverages (excluding tea and coffee), retort foods, cabbage kimchi, chocolates, noodles, special nutritional foods, ready-to-eat foods, sundae, and products of food manufacturing sites with prior-year sales of 10,000,000,000 won or more. For livestock products, meat processing, dairy processing, egg processing, egg grading and packing, and meat packing businesses are covered. The mandatory start date depends on annual sales and number of employees together, and businesses not subject to the obligation may still apply voluntarily.

2. 2. Prepare and operate prerequisite programs

   To be certified, you must write and actually operate prerequisite program standards, which are the facility and hygiene standards required before applying HACCP. They cover premises, hygiene, manufacturing equipment, refrigeration and freezing, water, storage and transport, testing and recall programs, and logs and inspection records must exist so the on-site inspection can confirm operation.

3. 3. Document the HACCP plan

   For each product and process, analyze biological, chemical and physical hazards and document critical control points (CCPs), critical limits, the monitoring system, corrective actions and verification procedures. For livestock products, the plan must also include a system for keeping records and data for at least 2 years. For livestock products, completing training at a designated training institution, within 2 hours for business operators and 16 hours for employees, is a certification requirement.

4. 4. Apply to the Korea Agency of HACCP Accreditation and Services

   Submit the application for certification as a food HACCP-applied business, or the HACCP certification application for livestock workplaces, businesses or farms, with the HACCP plan attached, to the head of the Korea Agency of HACCP Accreditation and Services for each workplace or business. If documents are insufficient, a supplementation request is generally issued with a deadline of up to 15 days, and after document review the site is evaluated through an on-site inspection based on the implementation evaluation table. If supplementation is requested after the on-site inspection, it must be completed within 3 months, or the certification process may be closed.

5. 5. Change certification and renewal after certification

   Food businesses must obtain change certification before changing critical control points or the business location, and livestock businesses before changing the product type, livestock species, location or critical control points. Certification is valid for 3 years from the certification date, the agency gives notice of the renewal procedure at least 90 days before expiry, and the business must file a renewal application at least 60 days before expiry. Employees of certified food businesses receive regular training at least once a year from the year after certification.

Required documents

• Application for certification as a food HACCP-applied business, or HACCP certification application for livestock workplaces, businesses or farms
• Food safety management certification plan for each covered food (for livestock products, the HACCP operation plan)
• Prerequisite program standards and operating records (hygiene inspection logs, temperature records, etc.)
• Hazard analysis data, grounds for setting CCPs and critical limits, and process flow chart
• Monitoring, corrective action and verification procedures with record forms
• HACCP training completion certificates for the business operator and employees
• Copy of the business registration, permit or report certificate (if you do not consent to administrative information sharing)
• Letter of authorization (when submitted by an agent)

Fees

Typically several hundred thousand won to several million won in the industry · We will advise after consultation depending on covered products and number of processes, the scope of documenting prerequisite programs and the HACCP plan, and whether it is a new certification, change certification or renewal. Government fees are separate.

See fees and official charges for this service →

Legal basis and review date

• Food Sanitation Act Article 48
• Food Sanitation Act Article 48-2
• Enforcement Decree of the Food Sanitation Act Article 33
• Enforcement Rule of the Food Sanitation Act Article 62
• Enforcement Rule of the Food Sanitation Act Article 63
• Enforcement Rule of the Food Sanitation Act Article 64
• Enforcement Rule of the Food Sanitation Act Article 67
• Enforcement Rule of the Food Sanitation Act Article 68-2
• Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act Article 9
• Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act Article 9-2
• Enforcement Rule of the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act Article 7
• Enforcement Rule of the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act Article 7-3
• Enforcement Rule of the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act Article 7-5
• Food and Livestock Products HACCP Standards Article 4
• Food and Livestock Products HACCP Standards Article 10
• Food and Livestock Products HACCP Standards Article 11

Checked against the statutes on 2026-10-07

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

• A business that is not certified may not use the name of an HACCP-applied business, and certification obtained by false or other fraudulent means must be cancelled.
• A certified business may not outsource the manufacture or processing of certified food to another business. The only exception is outsourcing to a business certified for the same food or the same process and critical control points.

Frequently asked questions