South Korea Confirms Cultivation Safety of GM Potatoes

South Korea's Rural Development Administration announced that genetically modified (GM) potatoes (SPS-Y9) from the U.S. are safe for cultivation in the country. This decision removes the final domestic regulatory barrier for Simplot's GM potatoes' entry to South Korea. The approval was based on the safety assessments conducted by the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute in 2019 and the Ministry of Environment in 2020. However, the GM product needs a final human risk evaluation and decision from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Based on previous evaluations, the ministry usually takes more than three years to finish toxicity and allergenicity evaluations. The Rural Development Administration will also need to release a feed-use safety evaluation before the GM potatoes become available in the South Korean market.

South Korea's GM product import figures for 2023 reveal substantial reliance on US-sourced crops. The country imported 860,000 tons of food-grade GM products, including corn and soybeans, and 2.3 million tons of feed-grade GM products, dominated by corn and cottonseed.

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