Dairy Mixed Products Falsely Labeled as '100% Sanyangyu'... Importers, Manufacturers, and Sellers Caught

MFDS cracks down on 7 individuals from 3 companies mixing 'Sanyangyu Danbaek Powder'

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 19th that it has sent to the prosecution three companies and seven representatives suspected of violating related laws, including the 'Special Act on Imported Food Safety Control,' for importing, manufacturing, and selling products that mixed a small amount of goat milk with regular milk and falsely represented them as '100% goat milk' products.

According to the Ministry, Company A was in charge of distributing and selling Indian goat milk protein powder, Company B was identified as the importer of Indian goat milk protein powder, and Company C was a domestic food manufacturing and processing company that produced goat milk processed foods under original equipment manufacturing (OEM) contracts.

Investigation results revealed that the representatives of Companies A and B requested a manufacturer in India between April and August last year to produce a low-cost dairy processed product mixing 98.5% milk with 1.5% goat milk, and then falsely declared this product as '100% goat milk' when reporting imports to Korea, bringing in approximately 36 tons.

Between April and May last year, Company C was commissioned to produce 43 tons of finished products labeled as '100% goat milk protein' using the illegally imported Indian dairy processed products as raw materials. Approximately 41 tons (worth about 1.8 billion KRW) of these products were distributed and sold through online and offline sales channels.

During this process, it was revealed that Company C used milk protein isolate, which is about 50% cheaper, at rates of 18.3% to 50% instead of the Indian dairy processed products provided by Companies A and B, in order to increase protein content and reduce manufacturing costs, producing 26 tons of violating products (about 60% of the total production of violating products).

In particular, the representatives of Companies A and B submitted false inspection certificates to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, claiming that the Indian dairy processed products were made solely from goat milk to conceal their crimes. They even showed meticulousness by separately storing products mixed with goat milk protein powder from other countries in their business premises to prepare for government sampling inspections. Furthermore, when the investigation began, they attempted to destroy evidence by instructing intermediaries in India to delete related materials such as emails.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety stated that it has seized a total of 4.4 tons of products stored by the companies that did not label the allergenic substance 'milk' and has recalled products that were already distributed and sold to prevent further circulation.

A Ministry official said, "We will continue thorough supervision and investigations to completely block the import, manufacture, and distribution of hazardous foods."