Pork Belly Purchased at Incheon Agricultural and Livestock Specialty Store
Opened to Find It Full of Fat... "Is It for Cleaning the Grill?"
A story about purchasing 'fatty samgyeopsal' at a mart specializing in agricultural and livestock products has sparked controversy.
Samgyeopsal purchased from a specialized agricultural and livestock product store in Incheon. [Photo by Yonhap News]
On the 4th, Yonhap News reported the story of Mr. A, who bought samgyeopsal at an agricultural and livestock specialty store in Incheon but filed a complaint with the district office because there was an excessive amount of fat. Mr. A said, "My wife bought samgyeopsal at the mart, but when I saw it in the evening, most of it was fat lumps," adding, "I couldn’t even eat properly and went to the mart to get a refund."
Photos released by Mr. A show four strips of samgyeopsal tangled and placed in a disposable packaging container. The red lean meat is hardly visible, and the white fat part accounts for roughly over 90%. In fact, some parts are made up of fat only, without any lean meat. The samgyeopsal was sold at 2,650 KRW per 100g. Mr. A’s wife purchased 624g of samgyeopsal with a coupon discount for 14,650 KRW.
As the controversy grew, the mart stated, "We manage quality according to the headquarters’ guidelines, and we apologize for causing such controversy," adding, "We have informed the customer about the refund policy and will pay more attention to livestock product management, including fat trimming, after verifying the facts."
Netizens who saw the story reacted with comments such as, "Is it for wiping the grill?", "There’s a complete lack of sincerity," "What are they expecting us to eat like this?", "It looks like it would produce enough grease to run a car," "They have no conscience," "It’s full of fat only," and "Is this a lean meat finding game?"
Meanwhile, controversies related to fatty samgyeopsal have been ongoing since April. Starting with tourist Mr. B, who visited Jeju Island in the same month and raised the 'fatty samgyeopsal' issue after visiting a famous meat restaurant, stories have emerged nationwide about receiving fatty samgyeopsal at various meat restaurants.
As the fatty samgyeopsal controversy escalated, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs distributed the 'Pork (Samgyeopsal) Quality Management Manual' for the second time, providing guidelines on fat trimming methods for wholesale raw samgyeopsal and small-packaged samgyeopsal. For small-packaged meat sold at large marts frequently accessed by consumers, it is recommended that fat be trimmed to less than 1 cm for samgyeopsal and less than 1.5 cm for ogyeopsal.
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