Gwangju City to Conduct Joint Public-Private Hygiene Inspections of Popular Foods for Lunar New Year

Focus on Unreported Manufacturing and Other Violations

Gwangju Metropolitan City will conduct a joint public-private hygiene inspection from January 19 to 23 to ensure the safety of popular foods used for ancestral rites and gifts ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

Ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, citizens are looking at seafood for ancestral rites and gifts at a large supermarket in Gwangju. Provided by Gwangju City

The inspection will focus on foods that see a surge in consumption during the holiday, such as rice cakes, health functional foods, and agricultural and seafood products. To block the distribution of non-compliant products, Gwangju City will carry out the inspection together with district offices and consumer food hygiene monitors.

A total of 28 inspectors, divided into six teams, will participate. Using a cross-inspection method by district, they will check 106 establishments, including food manufacturing and processing businesses, ready-to-eat food manufacturers, food service businesses, and health functional food retailers.

In addition to hygiene checks at businesses, food sampling and testing will also be conducted. The plan is to collect and test 60 samples in total: 20 processed foods, 30 cooked foods for ancestral rites, and 10 seafood items. Seafood sold online will also be included in the inspection.

The inspection items include checking for the use or storage of products past their expiration date, the hygiene status of kitchens and work areas, compliance with raw material storage standards, adherence to labeling requirements, unreported manufacturing or sales, and whether employees have undergone health examinations.

Gwangju City will focus on detecting intentional violations that are more likely to occur during the holiday season, such as unreported manufacturing without product registration, failure to conduct health checks for short-term staff, and tampering with or falsifying expiration dates.

Park Junghwan, Director of the Welfare and Health Bureau, said, "We will thoroughly manage the manufacturing, distribution, and sales processes of popular foods for the Lunar New Year," and added, "We will also expand inspections of online distribution products in consideration of the increasing trend of online food purchases."