'Pork Belly with Fat' Controversy Spreads via Direct Purchase Apps
'Ali Samgyeopsal' Sold at K-venue
Little Lean Meat, Lots of Fat...Netizens Angry
Recently, the direct purchase application 'AliExpress (Ali)', which has been struggling with regulations, has once again come under fire due to a controversy related to fresh food.
On the 2nd, a post titled "Ali Samgyeopsal Level" was uploaded on a mom cafe. The author, Mr. A, who ordered samgyeopsal for 25,000 won from Ali, posted a photo of the purchased product, saying, "I have decided not to buy fresh food from Ali anymore." The samgyeopsal in question is a product listed on K-venue (a Korean product sales channel) and has received Korean certification.
Looking at the photo posted by Mr. A, the samgyeopsal is covered with white fat. The red lean meat part accounts for at most 10%, while the remaining 90-95% is all fat. Even when unfolding the stacked samgyeopsal to check the other side, the lean meat is only partial, and fat is abundant. It looks no different from the recently controversial "fatty samgyeopsal."
Mr. A said, "I was embarrassed in front of my family and am heading to the local butcher shop to buy samgyeopsal," adding, "I have filed a refund and claim with Ali, but I don't know how it will be handled. I want to advise against ordering samgyeopsal from Ali."
Netizens who came across the story reacted with comments such as "They must have seen it clearly before sending it, how shameless," "It's absurd," "Worse than Jeju fatty samgyeopsal," "Is it meant for pig fat extraction?" "What are we supposed to eat?" "People who play with food are the worst," "This is a serious issue," "The family has every right to complain," and "There’s so much fat that grilling it must be difficult."
Meanwhile, in April, a tourist Mr. B who visited Jeju Island raised a controversy over "fatty samgyeopsal" after visiting a famous meat restaurant. As the controversy grew, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs distributed the second edition of the "Pork (Samgyeopsal) Quality Management Manual," which guides the fat removal methods for wholesale raw samgyeopsal and small-packaged samgyeopsal. For small-packaged meat sold in large marts, which consumers most frequently encounter, it is recommended that samgyeopsal have fat trimmed to less than 1 cm and ogyeopsal less than 1.5 cm. It also recommends considering disposal of excessive fat parts. However, since the manual is only a recommendation and not a regulation, there is no enforcement or penalty for non-compliance.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
