Deception and No Labeling... 394 Cases of Agricultural Food Origin Labeling Violations Detected During Chuseok Holiday

224 False Indications, Criminal Charges
170 Unmarked Locations, Fines Totaling 44.06 Million Won Imposed

The National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service announced on the 22nd that it conducted a comprehensive inspection of origin labeling focusing on gift and ritual items with high distribution volumes from the 26th of last month to the 13th, detecting 394 violating businesses (437 items).

During this inspection period, the agency deployed special judicial police and honorary monitors to focus on manufacturers and processors of gift and ritual items, online sales companies, and wholesale and retail businesses of agricultural and livestock products, totaling 18,549 locations, to check for acts such as selling foreign products disguised as domestic or falsely labeling them as famous local specialties.

The National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service has been conducting a comprehensive inspection of origin labeling from the 26th of last month to the 13th in celebration of the Chuseok holiday.

Among the detected businesses, 224 that committed false labeling were criminally charged (with penalties of up to 7 years imprisonment or fines up to 100 million KRW) and will be investigated internally before being referred to the prosecution. For 170 businesses caught for non-labeling, fines totaling 44.06 million KRW were imposed.

Additionally, during this crackdown period, campaigns for correct origin labeling were conducted at 163 traditional markets nationwide, which attract many people, together with consumer groups, market merchant associations, and special judicial police, to ensure consumers can trust and purchase domestic agricultural products such as ritual items.

Park Seong-woo, head of the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service, stated, "Through this comprehensive inspection of origin labeling during the Chuseok holiday, we prevented fraudulent distribution of agricultural food products such as ritual items," and added, "In the upcoming kimchi-making season, we plan to thoroughly inspect origin labeling for seasonings such as cabbage, red pepper powder, garlic, onion, green onion, and ginger."