How to Read the Date on Korean Food Packages After the 2023 Law Change
Does gochujang go bad? Before answering that, one change comes first. Korean law replaced the term printed on food packages, effective January 1, 2023. Korean food packages used to show a 유통기한 (yutonggihan), a "distribution date" set for retailers. The law now requires a 소비기한 (sobigihan) instead, a "consumption date." Article 2(12) of the Food Labeling and Advertising Act , as summarized by Korea's own Ministry of Government Legislation, defines it as the period during which a food stays safe to eat if the storage method printed on the label was followed. A store's old sell-by window measured something else: how long the retailer could keep stock on a shelf. The switch covers anything manufactured, processed, or shipped for import from January 1, 2023, per the law's own supplementary clause (Act No. 18445, promulgated August 17, 2021, Article 2). Manufacturers got a one-year grace period to sell through old-style packaging; nothing made after 2023 is a...