(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Yu Han-joo = In the future, the facility standards for egg processing businesses will be relaxed and business operators will be exempt from reporting short-term business closures, alleviating the burden on small business owners.
On the 15th, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced a legislative forecast for revisions to the "Livestock Products Hygiene Management Act" enforcement decree and enforcement rules, which include relaxing the facility standards in egg processing businesses to allow for the non-installation of all or part of the required equipment and facilities.
Previously, the manufacturing and processing rooms of egg processing businesses were required to mandatorily have equipment and facilities such as egg-checking machines and egg-washing machines, which acted as a burden on business operators.
In response, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety will improve the regulations so that businesses using only liquid eggs as raw materials, which do not need egg-checking machines or egg-washing machines in the workplace, can forgo the installation of all or part of the facilities if the relevant authorities deem it hygienically safe considering the operating format.
Additionally, while business operators had to report to the relevant authorities when they wanted to close or reopen their businesses, the obligation to report will be exempted for short-term closures (less than one month) due to business circumstances such as financial difficulties or labor shortages (excluding slaughter businesses and home rendering businesses) to support flexible business activities of operators.
Furthermore, while the self-quality inspection items for livestock products originally required at least one inspection per production unit for foreign substances and appearance, it will be revised to allow at least one inspection per month for each type of livestock product considering the characteristics of the items and the processing process.
In addition, the scope of media for publicizing the recall and disposal of livestock products and cases of violations will be expanded to include internet newspapers published by daily newspaper operators.