Public Procurement Service Catches and Sanctions 6 Companies for Substandard Health Masks Quality

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Public Procurement Service announced on the 24th that it conducted a quality inspection on 64 companies supplying health masks (KF94, KF80) to the Nara Marketplace comprehensive shopping mall and identified 6 companies that supplied non-compliant products.

The quality inspection focused on key items such as shape (dimensions), tensile strength of the head strap joint, purity (including presence of pigments and formaldehyde), and dust collection efficiency (performance in blocking inhaled foreign substances).

As a result, 5 companies were found to fall below the standard in the 'dust collection efficiency' category, and 1 company was below the standard in the 'dimensions' category.

Based on this, the Public Procurement Service imposed transaction suspension measures on the 6 companies in the Nara Marketplace shopping mall and required the ordering agencies to either replace all already delivered products or provide refunds.

Additionally, the related information was reported to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to ensure administrative actions are taken according to regulations.

Kim Jeong-woo, Administrator of the Public Procurement Service, stated, “The quality inspection was conducted as part of efforts to ensure the stable supply and strengthen quality control of health masks, which are key quarantine items. We will conduct regular quality management of health masks to provide safer products to consumers.”