MFDS Inspects Large-Scale Suppliers of Semi-Prepared Foods to Prevent Food Poisoning

Strengthening Preemptive Safety Management
of Food for Catering and Dining Supplied by Central Kitchens

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 18th that it will conduct a focused inspection of 'Central Kitchens' supplying food to mass catering facilities and dining franchises until the 19th.

A Central Kitchen refers to a food manufacturing and processing company that preprocesses ingredients or cooks or semi-cooks them in large quantities to supply to group catering and dining businesses. This inspection is being conducted to strengthen preemptive safety management of ingredients used for catering and dining and to prevent food safety incidents such as mass food poisoning.

Recently, cases of receiving and utilizing ingredients professionally preprocessed and cooked at Central Kitchens have been increasing in group catering and restaurants to reduce cooking time and equipment costs while maintaining the taste and quality of cooked food at a certain level or higher. According to the Korea Food Material Distribution Association, the domestic B2B (business-to-business) food material distribution market has grown from 37 trillion won in 2015 to 55 trillion won in 2020, and is expected to reach 64 trillion won this year.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has selected food manufacturing and processing companies that provide semi-cooked foods to mass catering facilities such as schools in preparation for the spring semester as inspection targets, and plans to focus on thoroughly examining compliance with the Food Sanitation Act, including ▲whether health examinations are conducted ▲use or storage of ingredients past their expiration date ▲hygienic handling standards ▲facility standards at these companies.

An official from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety stated, "We will strictly take measures such as administrative actions against violating companies based on the results of this inspection and strengthen management of companies supplying ingredients to dining franchises. We will do our best to create a safe food environment in line with changes in the food industry and consumer trends."