[Kim Taemin's Food and Drug Story] Delivery Food Hygiene Concerns, Let's Solve Them by Revealing the Kitchen

The domestic delivery food market is the only sector experiencing rapid growth amid the COVID-19 situation, driven by the development of the dining-out industry and the expansion of delivery apps. Baedal Minjok, the market leader in domestic delivery, was acquired last year by a German company for 4.75 trillion KRW, and even Coupang, listed on the U.S. NASDAQ, has entered the delivery food business, significantly expanding the industry. However, despite the quantitative growth of delivery companies, questions remain about the quality and safety of the food.

Delivery food refers to beverages or food prepared at business establishments classified as rest food service establishments or general food service establishments under the Food Sanitation Act, as well as bread prepared at bakery establishments. There is no separate business model solely for preparing food exclusively for delivery. Whether a business provides a space for customers to visit and consume prepared food is entirely at the discretion of the operator and is not legally distinguished. Ultimately, the safety and hygiene of delivery food fall under the safety and hygiene of all food service establishments, including rest food service establishments, general food service establishments, and bakeries as defined by the Food Sanitation Act, and are managed and supervised equally.

Holes in the Hygiene Rating System Despite Certification

To thoroughly supervise the safety and hygiene of the expanded delivery food market, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety currently has two main systems regulated under the Food Sanitation Act, but there is much room for improvement. Article 46, Paragraph 2 of the revised Food Sanitation Act, implemented in July 2019, requires delivery app service providers mediating communication sales between consumers and delivery food businesses to notify the Minister of Food and Drug Safety if they receive reports of foreign substances found in food from consumers, aiming to protect consumers. However, there are no provisions to impose penalties or sanctions if the delivery app operators fail to comply. Therefore, this clause is ineffective and merely declarative.

The hygiene rating system stipulated in Article 47-2 of the Food Sanitation Act requires the Minister of Food and Drug Safety or local government heads to evaluate the hygiene status of food service businesses upon application and assign hygiene grades. However, in practice, this is outsourced to the Korea Food Safety Management Certification Institute rather than conducted directly by officials. Many franchise companies advertise that they have received hygiene ratings, but doubts remain about its effectiveness.

Considering that well-known franchises and directly managed restaurants recently reported in the media for issues such as expired raw materials in stores were also awarded the "Excellent" grade under the hygiene rating system, there are many criticisms that this system does not inspire confidence in guaranteeing safety and hygiene. Ultimately, frequent inspections and supervision by food sanitation inspectors of food service business operators remain the only realistic solution.

Kitchen Transparency via CCTV as the Solution

The safety and hygiene of delivery food are ultimately issues concerning all food service establishments. Since it is difficult or inconvenient for consumers to visit the stores, the most sensitive area?the restaurant kitchen?being open to the public can be a means to reassure consumers. In December 2020, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced the "Strengthening Safety Management Measures for Delivery Restaurants" and declared, together with the Korea Franchise Association, the launch of a voluntary kitchen transparency campaign using CCTV, which is currently ongoing. At that time, they planned to use "professional delivery personnel" who visit restaurants to encourage reports of unregistered businesses and poor hygiene, but so far, no reports have been filed. Although the idea was good, the intention to assign monitoring roles to delivery personnel without incentives or obligations was naive and administratively convenient, leading to failure.

Ultimately, the safety issue of delivery food lies in the hands of consumers. One approach could be to demand kitchen transparency from delivery app operators in addition to evaluations of price, delivery speed, and food taste. The Food Sanitation Act stipulates that "the kitchen must be structured so that customers can see inside," so kitchen transparency through CCTV is not an unreasonable demand. If privacy protections for employees are ensured and prior consent is obtained, there is no legal issue. Considering the reality that food sanitation inspectors rarely visit even once a year, if consumers can directly verify the hygiene of delivery food with the support of delivery app operators based on legal grounds, they can order with confidence and consume healthily without unfounded fears. This demand is even more urgent given the current inability to conduct effective on-site inspections due to the COVID-19 crisis.

The biggest cause of anxiety is the unknown. By legally requiring kitchen transparency to consumers, the safety and hygiene awareness of employees working in the store can be improved, and trust can be restored for consumers. To recover the lost trust in the hygiene standards of general food service establishments following recent food poisoning and jokbal restaurant incidents reported in the media, operators must make the most proactive efforts, and consumers, moving away from passive bystanders, can gain greater benefits by expressing anger and demanding protection of their rights.

/Attorney at the Food Sanitation Law Research Institute