Reading a Korean Supplement Label: The Characters You Need

Reading a Korean supplement label is mostly a matter of recognising eight or nine short phrases. You don’t need to learn Korean. You need to know where to look and what a handful of character strings mean — and one of them is the difference between a regulated product and an ordinary snack with confident packaging.

I assumed for a long time that anything on a Korean shelf with health wording on it had been through some approval process. That turned out to be wrong, and the phrase that would have told me otherwise was printed right there on the box.

Start with one word: 건강기능식품

This is the phrase that matters most. 건강기능식품 — health functional food.

Products in this category are made with ingredients whose functionality and safety have been recognised by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. By law they must carry both the phrase and a designated mark on the package[1][5].

If you find those characters and the mark, you’re holding a regulated product with an approved function statement. If you don’t, you’re holding something else — and the next section explains what.

The lookalike: 기능성 표시식품

Here is where I had it wrong.

Since 2020 Korea has had a second category: 기능성 표시식품, roughly “food with functional labeling.” These are ordinary foods permitted to state, as a matter of fact, that they contain an ingredient known to be associated with some function[2].

They read very similarly on the shelf. The wording follows a set pattern — something along the lines of “○○, known to help with ○○, is contained at ○○mg”[3]. To qualify, the product must contain at least 30% of the daily intake amount for that ingredient, use raw material produced at a certified facility, and be manufactured at a HACCP-certified plant[3].

But they are not health functional foods, and the label has to say so. Look for this phrase:

본 제품은 건강기능식품이 아닙니다 — “This product is not a health functional food.”[2]

That sentence is mandatory on these products. It is also, in my experience, the single most useful string of characters to be able to recognise in a Korean supplement aisle.

Regulators treat the confusion between the two categories seriously. In a 2023 review of 240 online listings for functional-labeled foods, the MFDS found violations including advertisements that could lead consumers to mistake general foods for health functional foods[2].

The back panel, field by field

Korean labeling standards specify what must appear and where[1]. Once you know the headings, the panel becomes navigable even without reading the surrounding text.

Korean	Meaning	What to check
기능정보	Function information	The approved claim — usually ends in “도움을 줄 수 있음” (may help)
원재료명	Ingredients	The functional ingredient plus everything else
섭취량 및 섭취방법	Intake amount and method	How much, how often, with or without food
섭취 시 주의사항	Precautions	Who should avoid it, what to watch for
내용량	Net quantity	Count or weight in the package
소비기한	Use-by date	See the section below — this changed recently
보관방법	Storage	Refrigeration, light, humidity
영업소 명칭 및 소재지	Manufacturer name and address	Who made it and where

[Table 1] Key label fields on a Korean health functional food · Sources: 「건강기능식품의 표시기준」[1]

Two of these repay attention more than the rest.

기능정보 tells you what the product was actually approved for. This is worth checking against whatever drew you to the product, because the front of the box often implies more.

섭취 시 주의사항 is the box most people skip and the one most worth reading. It is not marketing copy — the content is set by the standards for that ingredient. Warnings about pregnancy, specific age groups, allergies or hormone sensitivity live here.

섭취량 and the number that matters

Two phrases govern dosing.

섭취량 or 1일 섭취량 — the intake amount, usually daily. 섭취방법 — how to take it.

The figure to find is how much of the *functional ingredient* you get per day, not how much the capsule weighs. These are different numbers and both often appear. For ingredients where the compound and the active form differ, Korean standards typically express the daily intake in terms of the active form — which means the number on a Korean label may not be comparable to one on an imported product using a different basis.

If you’re comparing a Korean product against one from home, this is where comparisons quietly break.

소비기한, not 유통기한

If you learned the phrase 유통기한 from an older guide, it’s worth updating.

Korea transitioned from 유통기한 (a sell-by date, marking the retail distribution period) to 소비기한 (a use-by date, marking how long the product remains safe to consume when stored properly). The standards establishing use-by dates took effect on 1 January 2023[4].

The practical difference: the older figure was conservative by design and the newer one reflects actual safe consumption. Older packaging and older guidance still circulate, so you may encounter either term.

Cross-checking what’s on the box

The label tells you what the manufacturer declared. To see what the regulator actually approved for that ingredient, look it up.

The MFDS operates a public food safety portal where you can search an ingredient and read the recognised function statement in its original form. If the front of the package promises considerably more than what appears there, you’ve found the gap between marketing and approval.

Two things worth remembering when you do. Recognised ingredient lists are amended periodically — the standards for several ingredients were revised as recently as June 2026 — so check at the time of purchase rather than relying on an article. And claims relating to disease treatment or prevention cannot be approved in Korea at all, so any packaging implying them is outside the approved scope regardless of how it looks[5].

A short field checklist

For the aisle:

1. **Find 건강기능식품 and the mark.** No mark, not a health functional food.
2. **Scan for 본 제품은 건강기능식품이 아닙니다.** If it’s there, this is a functional-labeled general food.
3. **Read 기능정보.** Is the approved function the one you came for?
4. **Read 섭취 시 주의사항.** Does anything there apply to you?
5. **Note 1일 섭취량.** How much of the functional ingredient per day?
6. **Check 소비기한 and 보관방법.**
7. **Look the ingredient up** on the official portal before you commit.

Steps one and two take about five seconds once you can recognise the characters, and they resolve most of the confusion people run into here.

Closing

Korean supplement labels are more informative than they first appear. The information is standardised, its position is regulated, and the categories are clearly separated — the barrier is recognition, not comprehension.

What I’d underestimated was how easily a functional-labeled general food reads as a regulated one when you can’t parse the script. Both use functional wording. Both look the part. The disclaimer that separates them is printed in ordinary type, and it’s easy to miss if you don’t know it exists.

Next in this series: what the MFDS certification mark actually guarantees — and what it doesn’t.

At a Glance

• 건강기능식품 plus the designated mark identifies a regulated health functional food
• 기능성 표시식품 is a general food permitted to state ingredient facts — it must carry 본 제품은 건강기능식품이 아닙니다
• 기능정보 carries the approved function; approved wording typically ends in “may help”
• 섭취 시 주의사항 is set by ingredient standards, not by marketing — read it
• Daily intake is often expressed in terms of the active form, which can break comparisons with imported products
• 소비기한 (use-by) replaced 유통기한 (sell-by) from 1 January 2023
• Verify the ingredient on the official portal at the time of purchase; lists change

※ This article is for general information and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Labeling standards and recognised ingredient lists are amended periodically — confirm current requirements on official government sources. If you take prescription medication, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or have an existing condition, please consult a clinician before starting any supplement.

References

1. 식품의약품안전처, 「건강기능식품의 표시기준」 (고시 제2023-9호, 2023.2.8. 시행), 국가법령정보센터, https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/admRulLsInfoP.do?admRulSeq=2100000218988
2. 대한민국 정책브리핑, 「건강기능식품에는 ‘마크’ 부착…기능성 표시식품과 구분하세요」, https://www.korea.kr/news/policyNewsView.do?newsId=148918529
3. 소비자24 (한국소비자원), 「건강기능식품 수사대 — 기능성표시식품 편」, https://consumer.go.kr/user/bbs/consumer/261/731/bbsDataView/3768.do
4. 식품의약품안전처, 「식품, 식품첨가물, 축산물 및 건강기능식품의 소비기한 설정기준」 (고시 제2022-31호, 2023.1.1. 시행), https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/admRulLsInfoP.do?admRulSeq=2100000210795
5. 찾기쉬운 생활법령정보, 「건강기능식품 표시 확인」, https://easylaw.go.kr/CSP/OnhunqueansInfoRetrieve.laf?onhunqnaAstSeq=88&onhunqueSeq=4962