Gyeonggi Special Judicial Police Conduct 'Special Crackdown' on Children's Symbol Food Manufacturing and Sales Businesses

Gyeonggi Province will crack down on illegal activities targeting businesses that sell children's preferred food products.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Special Judicial Police announced on the 21st that from the 26th of this month to the 8th of next month, they will conduct intensive inspections of 160 manufacturing and processing businesses of children's preferred food products, as well as cooking and sales establishments near schools and academies selling popular children's foods such as hamburgers and Malatang.

The Gyeonggi-do Special Judicial Police Unit will crack down on illegal activities at businesses handling children's preferred foods.

The main inspection items include ▲ cooking and storing products past their expiration date for sale ▲ violations of food preservation standards and specifications ▲ failure to perform mandatory self-quality inspections ▲ false or misleading origin labeling, among others.

Under the current Food Sanitation Act, anyone who manufactures, processes, cooks, sells, subdivides, transports, displays, or stores products or food ingredients past their expiration date for sale faces imprisonment of up to 3 years or a fine of up to 30 million won. Violations of food preservation standards and specifications can result in imprisonment of up to 5 years or a fine of up to 50 million won. Additionally, the Origin Labeling Act stipulates that false or misleading origin labeling can lead to imprisonment of up to 7 years or a fine of up to 100 million won.

Hong Eun-gi, head of the Gyeonggi Provincial Special Judicial Police, emphasized, "We will thoroughly crack down on illegal activities to provide healthy food to children as the new school and academy terms begin."