The Center for Food Safety and Toxicology (CFST) was established in September 2010 as an Agriculture Research Center (ARC) supported by the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Korea. The ultimate goal of the center is to characterize microbiological and chemical risk factors for food and agro-fishery products at molecular level, and to develop novel and fundamental methods to control the risk factors.

To be competitive in this era of the globalization, it is required that we should provide safe foods with high quality through ‘Large-scale Agricultural Enterprises’, ‘Systematization of Agro-processing’, and ‘Differentiation of Korean Foods from Others’ as suggested by the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Due to the differences on food types and culture, it would not fit very well if we adopt advanced food safety technologies from the developed countries. Therefore, it is necessary to develop and improve technologies concerning food safety based on the unique characteristics of Korean food culture.

Conclusively, we aim to identify, characterize, and control food-borne risks and toxic substances through the development of reliable and unique technologies for food safety and to be recognized nationally and internationally.