Changwon Special City Conducts Special Inspection on Seafood Origin Labeling Ahead of Lunar New Year

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Song Jong-gu] Changwon Special City announced on the 11th that it will conduct a special inspection on origin labeling of seafood items with high frequency of origin labeling violations, including ritual and gift items, from the 12th to the 20th in celebration of the Lunar New Year holiday.

The city will organize inspection teams by the five district offices to conduct special inspections targeting wholesale and retail stores, large supermarkets, traditional markets, restaurants selling seafood for ritual and gift purposes, as well as companies manufacturing, processing, and selling seafood.

In particular, the inspection will focus mainly on items whose consumption increases during the holiday season for rituals or gifts, such as jogi (croaker), mun-eo (octopus), galchi (hairtail), and jeonbok (abalone), as well as winter-season items with increased consumption like bangeo (yellowtail) and daegu (cod). Additionally, the obligation to label bangeo, jeonbok, garibi (scallop), buse, and ureongsheong-i, newly designated as items to be labeled in restaurants, will also be promoted.

If seafood origin is falsely labeled, penalties include imprisonment of up to 7 years or a fine of up to 100 million KRW, and if origin labeling is omitted, a fine ranging from 50,000 KRW to 10 million KRW will be imposed. Since origin labeling is also mandatory on delivery applications widely used these days, special caution is required.

Je Jeong-nam, Director of the Marine Port and Fisheries Bureau, stated, “We will continuously conduct guidance and promotion on seafood origin labeling to establish distribution order and enable citizens to consume seafood with confidence,” and added, “We ask those responsible for labeling to provide transparent origin labeling to gain consumers’ trust.”