MFDS Identifies 12 Food Establishments Violating Food-Related Laws Including Tanghulu Cases

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 2nd that it recently identified 12 restaurants violating food-related laws.

In response to the autumn outing season, the Ministry, together with 17 local governments, inspected a total of 5,892 locations including restaurants in national parks and highway rest areas from the 5th to the 13th. As a result, 12 places (0.2%) were found to have violated the Food Sanitation Act and the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Foods, and administrative actions will be taken by the relevant authorities.

This inspection targeted restaurants and food trucks operating in national and public parks, amusement parks, camping sites, terminals, rest areas, train stations, airports, and other places frequently visited by the public in autumn, as well as Tanghulu preparation and sales establishments, which have rapidly increased in number due to recent popularity. The number of food service businesses specializing in Tanghulu surged from 178 in 2021 to 1,060 as of last August.

The inspection revealed violations at food service establishments including ▲operating a general restaurant without notification (1 place) ▲violations of operator compliance requirements (2 places) ▲use of products violating labeling standards (1 place) ▲facility standard violations (1 place) ▲failure to conduct health examinations (6 places). Additionally, a food manufacturing company supplying raw materials to food service establishments (1 place) was found to have failed to conduct self-quality inspections and violated labeling standards.

The identified businesses will be re-inspected within six months after administrative actions are taken by the relevant local governments to verify improvements.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety also collected 284 samples of Tanghulu, hamburgers, sandwiches, hot bars, and other foods prepared and sold at restaurants in multi-use facilities and tested them for food poisoning bacteria, all of which were confirmed to be safe.