Food and drug safety ministry picks eight winners in HACCP AI contest

The food and drug safety ministry on Wednesday announced the winners of its 2026 HACCP AI Content Contest, selecting eight video entries designed to make food safety standards more accessible to the public. The contest ran from August 3 to August 30, inviting participants to use generative artificial intelligence to create videos illustrating the evolution of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point system.

A panel of judges evaluated 176 submissions based on theme suitability, clarity, creativity and completion. The ministry awarded one grand prize, two excellence awards and five encouragement awards.

Jeon Young-woon claimed the grand prize for "Mission Impossible: HACCP," earning a certificate from the ministry head and 3 million won. Seong Geun-mo and colleagues took an excellence award for "Bacteria's Employment Crisis" and Jang Hye-seon for "Eating Food with HACCP Marks During a Future Alien Invasion," each receiving 1 million won.

Five additional teams received encouragement awards and 500,000 won each for works including "WHO'S NEXT? HACCP" and "The Sea of Sterilization." The ministry will present the official certificates and monetary awards on September 28.

The winning videos will undergo post-production editing before being published on the ministry's YouTube channel and social media platforms.

The contest sought to raise public interest and understanding of the HACCP system by encouraging entries that creatively expressed the transition from standard HACCP to "smart" and "global" frameworks.

"We plan to expand opportunities for direct public participation and continue to discover useful and creative content so that people can easily and familiarly understand the HACCP system, including smart and global initiatives," the ministry said.