On August 12, CIRS Group Korea (CEO Hangsik Lim), a specialized consultancy in global food and chemical regulatory affairs, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the WFT Research Institute (Director Sangjun Lee) — an organization under the World Food Tech Council (WFTC) — to build a safety-technology foundation for the food tech sector and support the global market entry of alternative protein materials.

Why this MOU matters

Alternative protein is drawing attention as a next-generation growth engine, but approval procedures and safety-assessment standards differ from country to country, and many Korean companies have run into regulatory barriers when trying to enter overseas markets. This MOU combines CIRS Group Korea’s regulatory expertise in food and chemical substances with the WFT Research Institute’s on-the-ground industry network in Korea, with the goal of resolving companies’ practical field-level difficulties. By lowering the burden of the safety substantiation and overseas certifications required to export alternative protein materials and products, the partnership is expected to speed up Korean companies’ entry into global markets.

Areas of collaboration

• Building food tech safety technology and expanding its global adoption.
• Promoting exports of alternative protein materials — cultivated, plant-based, and insect protein — to markets including China, the U.S., and the U.K.
• Running global regulatory-response, safety-technology consulting, and education programs for food tech companies.
• Hosting international academic conferences to broaden the base of, and promote, the food tech sector.

The two parties will form a working-level committee and roll out detailed cooperation projects in sequence. As their first joint program this year, they plan to pilot a “customized overseas certification and export consulting” service for cultivated food and alternative protein companies.

Hangsik Lim, CEO of CIRS Group Korea, said: “Global regulatory compliance is the decisive factor separating food tech companies that succeed overseas from those that do not. Drawing on CIRS Group’s global infrastructure and regulatory-consulting expertise, we will actively support Korean food tech companies in establishing themselves in overseas markets.”

Sangjun Lee, Director of the WFT Research Institute, said: “Because food tech is a field where new technologies are adopted rapidly, building a safety-technology foundation ahead of time is critical to the industry’s sustainability. We will create practical, concrete support systems so that novel-technology foods — cultivated, plant-based, and insect protein — can enter overseas markets in a stable way.”

The common message conveyed by the two representatives is clear: international competition in the food industry of the future will not only be about technological innovation, but will increasingly test companies’ understanding of regulations, compliance capabilities, and ability to access multiple markets.

Overall, this cooperation is not merely an institutional collaboration focused on alternative protein exports and food technology safety, but also reflects CIRS Korea’s deeper involvement in the internationalization of Asia’s food technology industry through its cross-border regulatory services. As practical cooperation mechanisms and pilot projects are progressively implemented, CIRS Korea’s professional value in helping companies improve global compliance efficiency and enhance the certainty of overseas market access is expected to become increasingly evident.

About the World Food Tech Council (WFTC)

The WFTC is a Korea-based organization that supports the domestic food tech and alternative protein industry, with a particular focus on helping companies expand overseas. Through its affiliated WFT Research Institute, it has built a multi-layered cooperation network across the sector. In June, it hosted the “World Food Tech ConfEx 2026 (WFT26 ConfEx)” at KINTEX, running sessions covering the major alternative protein fields — cultivated food, plant-based food, and insect protein — and it operates annual expert-training programs for cultivated and plant-based alternative protein professionals.

About CIRS

Established in 2007, the CIRS Group is a leading product safety and regulatory consulting firm. CIRS has branch offices in the Republic of Ireland, South Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and China. CIRS Group utilizes its technical expertise, various resources, and international network to provide one-stop compliance services, including chemicals, cosmetics, food and food beverages, medical devices, agrochemical products, disinfectants, and consumer goods.

Services Provided by CIRS Korea

• Temporary approval of new food additives
• Temporary approval of new food ingredients
• Individual recognition of new functional ingredients
• Health functional food recognition
• Food and pet food formulation and label review