Gyeonggi Special Judicial Police Crack Down on 19 'Children's Preferred Food' Businesses Violating Food Sanitation Act

Gyeonggi Province has identified 19 businesses violating the Food Sanitation Act related to children's preferred foods.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Special Judicial Police announced on the 29th that, following inspections of 160 businesses handling children's preferred foods in Suwon, Hwaseong, and other areas from February 26 to March 8, they found 19 businesses (22 cases) violating related laws, including storing fermented vinegar that was over 33 months past its expiration date.

Among the major violations, Company A in Namyangju was caught storing fermented vinegar past its expiration date by 33 months and sausages past their consumption date by 2 months together with general ingredients without labeling them as 'for disposal' or 'for educational use.'

Company B in Guri was found storing 12.6 kg of boneless fish cakes, which should be kept frozen below -18℃, in a refrigerator at approximately 3.2℃.

Cases of Storing Children's Preferred Foods Past Their Expiration Date

Company C in Hwaseong illegally expanded its business area by 171㎡ without reporting the change and used the space to store 190 boxes of finished sausages, among other purposes, and was caught. Company D in Hwaseong was found not to have maintained raw material transaction logs and pizza dough production records for flour and baking powder used in pizzas since September of last year.

The current Food Sanitation Act stipulates that if food or raw materials past their consumption or expiration dates are stored for cooking or sales purposes without labeling them as 'for disposal' or 'for educational use,' or if business operators fail to comply with requirements such as maintaining raw material transaction logs and production records, they may face imprisonment of up to 3 years or fines up to 30 million KRW. Additionally, failure to comply with food preservation standards or failure to report changes in business area for food manufacturing and processing businesses may result in imprisonment of up to 5 years or fines up to 50 million KRW.

Hong Eun-gi, head of the Gyeonggi Provincial Special Judicial Police, stated, "To ensure that children can purchase food with confidence, we will strictly punish the identified businesses according to relevant regulations and do our best to eradicate illegal activities through continuous inspections, fostering a change in public awareness regarding food safety for residents."