Busan City Strengthens Food Safety Management for Delivery Restaurants

Nighttime Hygiene Inspections Twice Monthly for Delivery App-Registered Late-Night Restaurants

160 Delivery-Only Restaurants Without Seating Selected... On-Site Intensive Hygiene Consulting Provided

Busan City will strengthen food safety management for delivery restaurants by inspecting hygiene management practices and providing hygiene consulting for restaurants registered on delivery apps.

Busan City Hall.

This inspection and consulting initiative was established to address citizens' concerns about the hygiene of delivery food amid the recent widespread use of delivery app orders and the increasing demand for delivery food, as well as to prevent related food safety incidents.

Violations found during inspections will be strictly dealt with, and through professional and systematic hygiene consulting, business operators will be encouraged to improve their own hygiene management capabilities.

First, during the month of April, inspection teams will be formed with 16 districts and counties to conduct special inspections on about 160 delivery restaurants delivering dishes such as Malatang, Yangkkochi, and Huoguo, as well as about 20 unmanned cafes that prepare and sell coffee through vending machines and robots.

Additionally, from April to December, night-time hygiene management inspections will be conducted twice a month targeting night-operating restaurants registered on delivery apps.

The main inspection items include ▲compliance with hygienic management standards of kitchens and cooking facilities ▲storage and use of ingredients past their consumption (distribution) expiration dates ▲compliance with preservation and storage standards of food materials ▲compliance with facility standards to prevent foreign substances (such as rodents and pests) in the workplace ▲health checkups, wearing of hygiene caps and masks, etc.

From June to October, close-contact hygiene consulting will be conducted for 160 delivery-only restaurants without seating.

Last year, 80 restaurants (5 per district/county) were selected for consulting, and due to positive feedback from business owners who received consulting last year, the target has been expanded to 160 restaurants (10 per district/county) this year.

The hygiene consulting is conducted by consumer food hygiene inspectors with extensive hygiene management experience who visit the site and perform customized diagnostics for each business using contamination measurement devices (ATP tests), then guide business operators on corrective actions.

After consulting, there is a 10-day voluntary correction period, and after this period, the district/county authorities revisit the business to check whether the pointed-out issues have been resolved.

After the consulting is completed, a satisfaction survey is conducted, and improvements derived from this will be applied to next year’s projects.

Lee Sora, Director of the Citizen Health Bureau of Busan City, stated, “By strengthening food safety management for delivery restaurants, whose market size has greatly grown due to changes in dining culture trends, we aim to improve business operators’ awareness of hygiene and encourage them to identify problems themselves and manage hygiene autonomously. Our city will do its best to manage food safety in delivery restaurants so that citizens can enjoy delivery food with peace of mind.”