[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yoon Jamin] The Jeonnam Branch of the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service (Branch Chief Hwang Gyukwang) announced on the 2nd that it will conduct a comprehensive crackdown on illegal distribution activities such as origin and grain labeling of agricultural products for ancestral rites and gifts, which are popular during the Lunar New Year, until the 23rd.
This crackdown will deploy a large number of 173 special judicial police officers and 330 elite honorary monitors composed of consumer group members, and plans to enhance the efficiency of the crackdown by conducting joint operations with related organizations.
In anticipation of the Lunar New Year holiday and the increase in distribution volume of agricultural and livestock products, the focus will be on preventing illegal distribution activities related to agricultural product origin labeling, grain labeling, and livestock traceability systems in advance to alleviate public anxiety and protect consumers and producers.
The key crackdown items include acts such as disguising or mixing cheap foreign products as preferred domestic products by consumers, false labeling of livestock traceability numbers, and other illegal distribution activities related to agricultural products.
The main target items are ancestral rite products such as beef, pork, and other meats, fruits like apples and pears, gift sets, vegetables such as bracken and balloon flower root, and traditional Korean sweets.
In particular, to enhance the efficiency of the crackdown, pre-collection and monitoring of crackdown information will be strengthened to select vulnerable businesses and items for focused inspection.
Quarantine and inspection information from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, as well as customs clearance data from the Korea Customs Service, will be collected and analyzed in advance to select companies with high imports of ancestral rite agricultural products and trace their distribution routes for inspection.
The cyber crackdown team for telecommunication sales (2 teams, 4 members) will monitor telecommunication sales companies in Gwangju and Jeonnam, including those selling ancestral rite, gift, and specialty products. They plan to directly purchase suspicious products sold at prices significantly lower than domestic products and verify the authenticity of labeling for enforcement.
Additionally, by collecting and analyzing crackdown information, companies with a high likelihood of violations will be selected for intensified inspection, and joint crackdowns will be promoted with local governments, the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service, and the Korea Customs Service.
The Jeonnam branch of the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service will maximize the use of mobile inspection teams composed of origin investigation experts and strengthen surprise inspections during vulnerable times such as holidays and nighttime.
Along with this, as violation methods become increasingly sophisticated and large-scale, scientific analysis methods such as physicochemical identification and digital forensics will be utilized to block illegal distribution of products like pork and napa cabbage kimchi.
A representative of the Jeonnam branch stated, “We will continue to establish distribution order by strengthening origin guidance and crackdowns so that consumers can trust and purchase agricultural products,” and added, “We will do our best to protect consumers and producers.”
They also noted, “Before purchasing agricultural products for ancestral rites during the Lunar New Year, using the origin identification information on the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service website can help consumers buy domestic agricultural products.”
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