Incheon Special Judicial Police, Planned Investigation on Food Safety of Meal Kit Manufacturing and Sales Businesses

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] The Incheon Special Judicial Police announced on the 13th that they will conduct an intensive investigation targeting businesses that manufacture and sell ready-to-eat and convenience food products from the 20th of this month until the 17th of next month.

Ready-to-eat and convenience food products are foods manufactured or processed to be consumed as is or after simple cooking processes without separate cooking procedures.

The city plans to focus inspections on food manufacturing and processing businesses producing ready-to-eat and convenience food products such as meal kits, ready-to-eat manufacturing and processing businesses using delivery platforms, and habitual or chronic food hygiene violators. Upon detecting violations, the relevant business operators will be booked and investigated.

The main investigation points include ▲ compliance with hygienic handling standards of manufacturing facilities, ▲ violations of raw material storage standards, ▲ use or storage of raw materials past their expiration (distribution) dates, and ▲ whether self-quality inspections have been conducted.

According to the Food Sanitation Act, violating refrigeration and freezing storage standards for food can result in imprisonment for up to 5 years or a fine of up to 50 million KRW.

Additionally, manufacturing or selling food without preparing production and operation records or raw material input/output and usage documents, or failing to conduct self-quality inspections, can lead to imprisonment for up to 3 years or a fine of up to 30 million KRW.

The city planned this investigation to strengthen food safety management in response to the continuous increase in demand for convenient meals that can replace a meal at home or outdoors due to the rise in single-person households.

An official from the Incheon Special Judicial Police stated, "Businesses caught engaging in illegal activities will be strictly punished according to relevant regulations," and added, "We will continue to strengthen crackdowns on high-consumption foods and do our best to ensure safe food for citizens."