<Anchor> It



is a friendly economy time.

Reporter Han Ji-yeon is with me.

Will use-by dates be used instead of expiration dates on food from next year?



<Reporter>



Yes, there are many single-person households, so they buy ingredients and share them, so they pay special attention to the expiration date.



From the 1st of next month, the expiration date, which has been used for 38 years, will disappear, but will be marked with the expiration date due to the revision of the food labeling and advertising law.



In fact, the distribution period was quite ambiguous.

It's literally a period that can be distributed, but it's different from a period that can be eaten.



So when the expiration date is over, I just throw it away, or I eat it because I think it will be okay after tasting it, but there are many cases where it is steamed.



However, now it seems that you can safely consume it according to the expiration date and reduce food waste to protect the global environment.



<Anchor>



By the way, this consumption period is generally a bit longer than the expiration date, right?



[Reporter



] Yes, that's right.

It depends on the item, but overall it increases, up to 80%.



I'll try to sort out the most confusing items.



The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has released reference values ​​for 80 items, but there are foods that are only determined after the whole family has tasted them.

It's just milk.



Originally, the shelf life is 16 days on average, but the average consumption period increases to 24 days.



In the case of tofu, it has to be distributed within 17 days, but even after that, it can be eaten for 6 days.



For ham, from the 38th to the 57th, fermented milk from the 18th to the 32nd.



And those who raise infants and toddlers must be very interested in baby food. The expiration date was 30 days, but the expiration date increases to 46 days.



<Anchor>



How is the expiration date determined? 



<Reporter>



Yes, the expiration date is determined through experiments.



To take into account unexpected changes in quality, the 'quality safety limit period', which is the maximum period that can be safely consumed, is multiplied by a 'safety factor' of less than 1 to set a period shorter than the shelf life of the original food.



Food business operators can directly calculate the safety factor, which is determined based on major factors that affect quality change, such as odors and appearances that may appear during preservation and storage, as well as bacterial counts and acidity.



It's hard to experiment separately in small places for each food business.

In this case, you can set the expiration date shorter than the reference value set by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, considering the packaging material and distribution environment.



The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety plans to conduct experiments on 430 items that are needed first by this month and disclose the results.



By 2025, we have decided to set a consumption period for about 2,000 items.