Gyeonggi Province has uncovered a large number of delivery food specialty stores (food service establishments) that committed illegal acts such as falsely or confusingly labeling the origin of food products or storing food past its expiration date.
The Gyeonggi Province Civil Affairs Special Judicial Police Unit announced on the 22nd that from the 24th of last month to the 4th of this month, they inspected 180 food service establishments specializing in delivery and found 30 locations (36 cases) violating the Origin Labeling Act and the Food Sanitation Act.
Among the major cases, a food service establishment A located in Suwon City was caught falsely labeling the origin of 35kg of Australian beef stored in the store’s refrigerator as American beef.
Food service establishment B in Hwaseong City stored 4kg of naengmyeon (cold noodles) minced seasoning, which was 182 days past its expiration date, in a refrigerator for sale without labeling it as 'for disposal' or 'for training.' Food service establishment C in Gimpo City was caught storing 8.5kg of wasabi, which should be refrigerated at 0~10℃, in a freezer at about -0.4℃ during this inspection.
Food service establishment D in Suwon City was found to have left leftover ingredients in the raw material storage room and kitchen without proper packaging, resulting in frost on the surface of the ingredients, and unsanitary management such as storing kitchen gloves and food ingredients together in the refrigerator.
Under the current 'Origin Labeling Act,' falsely or confusingly labeling the origin of food products is punishable by up to 7 years in prison or a fine of up to 100 million KRW.
Additionally, the 'Food Sanitation Act' stipulates that storing food or raw materials past their expiration date for cooking or sale purposes without labeling them as 'for disposal' or 'for training' is punishable by up to 3 years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million KRW, and failing to comply with food preservation standards is punishable by up to 5 years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million KRW.
Furthermore, unsanitary management of internal areas such as raw material storage rooms, manufacturing and processing rooms, kitchens, and packaging rooms handling food can result in fines of up to 5 million KRW.
Hong Eun-gi, head of the Civil Affairs Special Judicial Police Unit of the province, stated, "Delivery food specialty stores sometimes have weaker hygiene compared to regular restaurants because they do not have customer seating. We will continue to identify hygiene blind spots and conduct ongoing inspections to eradicate illegal activities."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
