In modern diet relying heavily on processed food, it is difficult to live without food additives, added to food regardless of whether consumers want or not. This poses the following questions: Are food additives really safe? Are they toxic? Are they cancerous? Are they still good to eat? Are there any concerns on excessive intake and interactions? Is toxicity testing adequate? Is ADI evaluation being set up properly? In this article, I discuss a desirable management strategy for food additives, by addressing these questions and concerns and analyzing and reviewing current status of food additive management.

Currently there is a great increase in concern about the safety of food we eat and the potential hazards arising from contamination with synthetic pesticide residues on crops. In general, consumers tend to believe that synthetic pesticides and there residues in crops are dangerous to our health. On the other hand, less attention has been paid to the naturally occurring toxic substances in crops, which may cause or contribute to illness in humans. The Korean peninsula is very hot and humid during the summer season. This environment is good for the growth of various kinds of pests and pathogens as well as crops. Therefore, Korea has been one of the most intensive pesticide consuming countries of the world, an attractive market for multinational pesticide companies. In order to control the diseases, pests and weeds effectively, the use of pesticides in agriculture is inevitable. The pesticides protect the reduction of production from diseases, insect pests and weeds. Furthermore, they provide the stable food and crop supply by improving the quality. Thus, the pesticides are the most economical and safe substance to replace and cover the shortage of rural work force, which gets more and more serious. Pesticide industry in Korea has just a short history of 50 years. Taking the procedures of the import, adoption and imitation of the foreign technologies, five compounds were synthesized newly by our technology and registered as insecticide, fungicide and herbicide. Until now the most of pesticide technicals were imported from foreign countries with high price. The imported technicals are formulating with adjuvant in manufacture factory. From the 1970s a part of technicals which is expired patent are synthesizing by our own technology. Totally of 1,230 items has been notified to be used as pesticide by the government at 2008. The pesticide production in 2008 was 21,168 M/T as an active ingredient. The amount was divided 17.5% for paddy rice, 45.4% for horticultural plants, 26.2% for weed and 10.9% for others. By formulation, emulsifiable concentrate is 46.3%, wettable powder 32.6%, granule 17.5%, dust 0.8% and water soluble powder 0.7%. The total amount of imported pesticide was 443,362 thousand dollars. Among them the technical grade is 77.4%, intermediates for synthesis 4.1%, formulation 18.5%. The technical grade was divided with fungicides 28.7%, insecticides 34.2%, herbicides 26.2% and others 10.9%. The major importing countries are Japan 29%, Germany 15.2%, United State 15%, China 12.6%, Swiss 8.4% and others 29%. The local production ratio of technicals is 10.6% of the required technicals in Korea. On the other hand, Korea is exporting some technical grade and formulations to several nations. The agrochemical market value of Korea in 2008 was 27,586 thousand dollars. The ideal pesticide would be toxic only to the target organism, but unfortunately this cannot often be achieved and most pesticides are to some extent hazardous to other organisms also and, therefore, potentially harmful to those handling them. At present 2008, the maximum residue limit (MRL) for 399 pesticides was established in all crops. And the standard for safe use for 800 items except herbicides was also established in each crop. Every year, Korean government is monitoring the residue level of pesticides to agricultural products for safety of consumers. The classification of pesticides toxicity by the Pesticides Management Law is based primarily on its acute oral and dermal toxicity to test animals. This hazard classification of Korea is following the method of WHO. The hazard class is divided into 4 groups; extremely hazardous, highly hazardous, moderately hazardous and lowly hazardous. Among 1,230 items including 28 items of biopesticide using in Korea, there is no extremely hazardous group, 17 items in highly hazardous group, 175 moderately hazardous and 1,038 lowly hazardous. Apart from classification system by acute toxicity, to minimize the side effects caused by pesticides we have another system prescribing definitely the enforcement degree of crop-residual, soil-residual and water-residual pesticides. Crop-residual pesticide is legally defined as the agrochemical that its terminal residue level in crop harvests exceeds the national maximum residue limit. The residual pesticide of which its persistence is evaluated to have longer than 180 days of half life in soil and the residual impacts on the second cropping is recognized, donates as the soil-residual pesticide. And both of crop and soil residual pesticides are prohibited to register for use. Water residual pesticide of which the fish toxicity (TLm, 48hrs) to the carp is less than 0.1ppm is also legally regulated and banned for use in paddy field. What kinds of pesticides are required for the future of Korean agriculture? Everybody will reply. "They must have the high activity, be safe and without harmful effects to the animals and environment". But actually the development of ideal pesticides in Korea is very difficult owing to invest of lots of money and time. So we are using the technology of molecular design for toxicity reduction of already existing pesticides, and research for development of biopesticides by the bioengineering technique using plants and microorganism. To use pesticides effectively, we have to research and evaluate of integrated control measures including development of biological, enzyme and hormone manipulation, and mechanical controls resulting in pest management concepts. For the future, it is necessary to produce and use more effective and more selective pesticides. Over the development of synthetic pesticides from 1940s there have been significant changes in the tools available for research and development of pesticides. Research on pesticides has gone from spray and prays to high throughput screening on in vitro targets. Analytical techniques of pesticides now allow easier identification of metabolites and degradation products, whilst parts per trillion can be routinely determined. These changes have been largely driven by advances in computing power over the past decades. Similarly, the modeling for development of new pesticides that can now be carried out would have seemed impossible 50 years ago. Information today is also much more readily accessible than before, the internet is a tool which has come of age and is the repository of a large amount of information. Communications have similarly changed with personal mail allowing instant communication with fellow scientists. In the future, international cooperation will be more needed for the exchange of related and updated information in safety evaluation and development of pesticides.

The risk ranking of food groups included the Korea Food Code is a potentially powerful means to prioritize food safety management strategies. Although the interest in risk ranking of food groups has been increasing worldwide, there was, until recently, no standard system in Korea for the risk ranking of food groups. This study was conducted to rank food groups using theoretically estimated comparative risk scores of 101 food groups included the Korea Food Code. These scores were estimated using the risk evaluation model, which focuses on 3 aspects, namely, exposure assessment, severity assessment, and consumption part. The results of this study revealed that the risk was the highest in the case of ready-to-eat (RTE) food items, followed by fish products and breads. Using this ranking system, we can identify the food with high risk scores and design risk management strategies targeted specifically at these items.

This study was conducted the analysis of food safety incidents between January 1998 and October 2008 using media reports. Total number of food safety incident was 569 through the study period. The average of food safety incident per year and month was 51.7and 4.9, respectively. The top 10 food types involved in the lists of food safety incidents were as follows; marine products, meat and meat products, confectionaries, beverages, special nutritional food, teas, noodles, soy and bean paste sauces, and milk and milk products etc. The top 10 single foods also were as follows; ready-to eats, meat, confectionary, health support foods, steeping tea, infant formula, meat products, ginseng products, foods for body weight control etc. Of the total 569 incidents, 247 (43.4%) were related with chemical hazards involving pesticide, food additives etc, biological hazards were 126 (22.1%), and physical hazards were 97 (17.0%) incidents. In analysis stage in the food chain at which breakdown in food safety occurred, primary production were the most common stage with 364 (64%) incidents, and incidents at the manufacture handling and distribution stages were with 151 (26.5%), and 44 (7.7%), respectively. The results of this study can be used as a better data for risk analysis or food safety strategies.

Consumers are very concerned about food safety as the risk with food increased. This study was conducted to evaluate the perceptions and practices of consumers on food safety in order to collect some information for the development of consumer education program. Total 500 consumers were asked to answer for survey constituted with 6 questions of generic information, 4 of food safety perceptions and 8 of food safety practices from June to July, 2006. More than half of respondents (51.8%) were unsatisfied with the food safety management of government while the individual practices on food safety were satisfactory. Especially, most respondents (98.7%) checked the expiration date of food when they purchased and 97% of respondents were washed hands before food preparation. The higher food safety perception, the better food safety practices of consumers. These results suggest that the systematic and continuous educations on food safety hazards and the principles of sanitation management are necessary for safe food handling and perception on food safety.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the elementary students’ knowledge, attitudes, and practice for food hygiene and safety. A self-administered questionnaire was developed and offered to 375 elementary school students throughout the Seoul region. The results of the survey were as follows: First, the knowledge, attitudes, and practice were not at satisfactory level. The scores of children's knowledge, attitudes, and practice were 67.42%, 3.83, and 3.81 out of 5 point scale, respectively. Second, knowledge, attitudes and practice levels were significantly different according to demographic characteristics. The lower grade-students had significantly higher scores for knowledge (p<.05), attitudes (p<.05) and practice (p<.01) than higher gradestudents, suggesting that food hygiene and safety education is more effective in younger students or that repeated education is needed for higher grade-students. Third, knowledge, attitudes and practice levels were significantly correlated each other. These results suggest that the education programs for food hygiene and safety should be developed for, as well as implemented in, lower elementary school grades.

어린이 먹거리 안전관리 사업의 일환으로 어린이 식품 품질인증제도 연구를 수행하였다. 이 중 어린이 눈높이에 맞는 친숙한 브랜드 이미지 구축을 통하여 식품자체의 안전성을 확보함과 동시에 어린이에게 올바른 식품선택기준과 기회를 제공하기 위한 품질 인증마크를 개발하였다. 눈높이는 8~13세의 초등학생으로 하였고, “안전한 식품, 바른 영양, 건강한 어린이”라는 식약청 vision에 따라 로고 컨셉은 안심·미소, 인증·검증·보호, 건강으로 하였다. 명칭은 식약청내 공모를 통해 제안된「어린이용우수식품」, 「어린이안심식품」,「어린이우수식품」등 세 가지 안으로 하였으며, 명칭에 따라 총 36가지의 품질인증 로고시안을 제안하였다. 설문지는 이 중「어린이우수식품」으로 디자인된 12가지 시안으로 구성하였고, 초등학교 학부모(331명) 및 어린이(321명)를 대상으로 설문 조사를 실시하였다. 학부모와 어린이의 선호도를 종합한 결과 시안 8이 16.1%로 가장 높고, 시안 6(15.5%), 시안 3(14.0%) 순임을 알 수 있었다. 이러한 연구결과를 토대로 어린이 먹거리 안전성 확보 사업의 기반을 구축하여 어린이 기호식품에 대한 부모와 어린이의 선택권을 강화할 수 있으며, 바르고 안전한 식품을 선별하기 위한 검증으로 어린이 건강을 보호할 수 있을 것으로 사료된다.

The purpose of the research is to discuss the product safety procedures for the food industry The producer and supplier of the products should satisfy the increasing consumer safety needs. To develop and produce safe products, the food industry must rigorously perform potential hazard findings and very thorough risk analysis to detect even the very minute potential danger. The ultimate product liability rests with the consumer safety and the manufacturer's capability which competes in the market places. This is especially important in the food industry. However, small to medium sized food producing companies are facing challenges in this area due to their overall capabilities. Therefore this research presents safety procedures which are relatively simple to implement.

This study was conducted to develop and evaluate food safety training program for employees in foodservice operations. The developed CD-ROM was consisted of 5 parts: foodbome illness, personal hygiene, food handling in food production steps, HACCP system, and sanitary facilities. It has made slides for all contents, the animation and movie to raise interests and concentrations, and illustrations and pictures to understand. The evaluation checklists were developed 15 questionnaires including understanding(5), information(3), concentration(4), recommendation(2), and the most important factor(1) and measured by Likert 5-point scale. Fifty-four dietitians in Daegu and Gyeongbuk schools, hospitals, and industries foodservice operations responded to the surveys. The results are as follows; The most important part in the CD-ROM was personal hygiene(33.3%). The total mean was 3.95±0.41, 3.91±0.46 on understanding, 3.89±0.50 on information, 3.87±0.55 on concentration and 4.29±0.49 on recommendation. The score was significantly higher in the recommendation part than others. Overall, as the developed CD-ROM has achieved fine score, a study on the effect of education needs to be followed. Moreover, consistent and organized education by developing a variety of sanitation education methods should be conducted.

What is the most important in articles of food is hygienic safety. Because food Is the most common thing in our everyday life, however, the importance of its hygienic safety and other many problems caused by food may be easily neglected. What is more, food is can be dangerous as much as it is directly related to human life and accidents from the same cause may have different effects on the victims according to physical and environmental differences of individuals. Thus PL action for food requires more thorough prevention and measure. Korea has been enforcing 'the Product Liability Act' since the 1<SUP>1st</SUP> of July 2002. Product Liability (PL) is liability of the manufacturer or the seller of a product to compensate for the death or injury of consumers or the loss of properties caused by the defect of the product. This study surveyed consumers' response to and the effects of the enforcement of the Product Liability Act, investigated how consumers perceived the importance of food safety and the risk of defective food based on PL standards and their experience in damage by food through a questionnaire survey, and analyzed collected data through empirical analyses (reliability analysis, factorial analysis, regression analysis and ANOVA t-test) using SPSS 10.0. Based on the results of analysis, the researcher proposed strategies for coping with the Product Liability Act in the food industry

This study was performed to investigate 172 samples of fried food in fast food store. The free fatty acid value of 22 samples exceeded standard of fried-food. These samples were 10 fried chickens, 6 fried potatoes and 5 fried onions. Fatty acid composition differed from each company. The correlation between free fatty acid value and double bond index was very low. New standard of fried food in fast food store is needed for thorough hygiene management, because of being not existed standard. The fried potato containing many carbohydrate and fat appeared higher calory than fried chicken containing many protein. The fried food had high fat comparatively, so that attention in regard to excess intake is demanded. The trace materials were included Mg, Ca, Mn, Fe, Zn, Cu and Cr in order of quantity, and the harmful heavy metals - Pb, Hg and Cd - were included small quantity.

본 연구는 학교습식의 위생안전성관리에 대한 학부모의 지식, 태도 및 행동 수준과 이에 미치는 요인을 알아보고자 수행되었다. 1개 도지역에서 직영급식을 실시하는 초등학교에 다니는 학생의 어머니를 무작위로 추출하였으며, 미리 개발된 설문지에 의하여 2001년 4월부터 5월 사이에 조사를 실시하였다. 설문조사는 응답자의 자기기입식으로 수행하였으며 응답자 301명의 자료를 통계적으로 분석하였다. 응답자의 점수에서 전반적으로 행동 수준(평균 2.89점)은 지식 수준(평균 4.48점)이나 태도 수준(평균 4.34점)에 비하여 유의하게 낮았다(p<0.05). 또 5개 범주(식품안전성관리, 종사자개인위생관리, 시설·설비·기구위생관리, 폐기물관리 및 기록유지관리)에서도 모두 그러한 경향을 보였다. 로지스틱 회귀분석 결과 응답자의 학교급식의 위생안전성관리에 대한 지식과 태도에 영향을 미치는 요인으로는 교육 수준이 비교적 많이 제시되었으나, 행동에 영향을 미치는 용인으로는 학교급식활동 참여 여부가 가장 많이 제시되었다. Pearson 상관분석 결과, 응답자의 지식과 태도 사이에 유의한 상관관계가 관찰되었다(r=0.61404, p<0.01). 이러한 결과는 응답자의 지식과 태도는 양호한 수준이나 지식과 행동 및 태도와 행동 사이에는 큰 격차가 있음을 제시한다. 학부모의 학교급식의 위생안전성관리에 대한 행동 수준을 향상시키고 또한 이러한 격차를 줄이기 위해서는 학교급식참여 프로그램을 강화 및 개발할 필요가 있다.