Anseong-si Launches Special Inspection on Origin Labeling of Imported Seafood

Restaurants, Raw Fish Restaurants, and Retail Stores
Administrative Sanctions and Prosecution for Serious Violations

On the 16th, Anseong City in Gyeonggi Province announced that it will conduct a special inspection on the origin labeling of imported seafood until the end of this month.

The target establishments for this special inspection include seafood specialty restaurants, sales outlets, and sashimi restaurants. The city plans to check compliance with origin labeling, verify false or missing origin labels, and inspect import volumes.

The main items to be inspected are live scallops (Japan), live red sea bream (Japan), refrigerated pollock (Japan), live sea snails (Japan), live eel (China, Morocco), live snow crab (Russia), and frozen cutlassfish (Japan).

The seafood items subject to origin labeling in restaurants include a total of 20 species: flatfish, rockfish, red sea bream, loach, eel, octopus, pollock, mackerel, cutlassfish, squid, blue crab, croaker, tuna, anglerfish, webfoot octopus, scallops, sea snails, abalone, yellowtail, and flatfish.

The city will take corrective actions on minor violations on-site, but for serious violations, administrative measures and prosecutions will be taken based on relevant laws. For missing origin labels, fines ranging from 50,000 KRW to 10 million KRW will be imposed; for violations of labeling methods, half of the missing label fine will be charged; and for false labeling, imprisonment of up to 7 years or fines up to 100 million KRW will be imposed.

Lee Sang-in, director of the Anseong Agricultural Technology Center, said, "We will continue to promote education and inspections so that citizens can trust and purchase seafood with confidence."