The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Director Yoo-kyung Oh,  www.mfds.go.kr ) recently issued a warning against unfair labeling and advertising of cosmetics related to stem cell culture media, and strengthened surveillance and punishment to prevent consumer damage caused by such labeling and advertising. He suggested this.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's Cosmetic Policy Division announced this policy in an official document titled 'Guide to caution against unfair labeling and advertising of human stem cell culture media cosmetics' sent to the Korean Cosmetic Association earlier this month and requested special attention from cosmetics companies.

In this official document, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said, “Recently, unfair labeling and advertising of stem cell culture media cosmetics has been carried out indiscriminately, so we ask cosmetics companies to keep this in mind when labeling and advertising such products and to be careful not to suffer disadvantages due to false or exaggerated advertising.” “He said.

In relation to this, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said, “In principle, human-derived cells, tissues, and their cultures cannot be used as raw materials for cosmetics. However, in order to promote the cosmetics industry, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has already reflected the industry’s request to present safety standards that can be used on the human body rather than full regulation. “In 2010, the ‘Human Cell Tissue Culture Media Safety Standards’ were established and announced, and the manufacture and sale of stem cell culture media cosmetics is permitted only if these safety standards are complied with.”

Since the implementation of the relevant safety standards, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has been monitoring unfair labeling and advertising of stem cell culture media cosmetics through frequent online monitoring and periodic special on-site inspections.

As a result of recent surveillance, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety confirmed that false and exaggerated advertisements for stem cell culture media cosmetics are still being carried out indiscriminately. These results led to the conclusion that the situation was being taken very seriously not only by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety but also by the outside world, including the National Assembly and the media.

In order to deal with this situation, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced, “We plan to further strengthen labeling and advertising surveillance to prevent consumer damage caused by unfair labeling and advertising of stem cell culture media cosmetics in the future,” and added, “We will take administrative action through on-site inspections for companies that violate serious violations.” He repeatedly emphasized, “As we plan to file a complaint, we ask related cosmetics companies to be more careful with labeling and advertising to avoid being disadvantaged by false or exaggerated advertising.”