Rusty 'Hoegaarden' Canned Beer Circulating in Market... "Issue Found in Belgian Imported Product"

OB Beer "An Extremely Rare Case... Problematic Products Are Not on the Market"

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Saeng-hye] It has been revealed that some of the 'Hoegaarden' beer cans imported by OB Beer from Belgium were sold to consumers with rust on them.

On the 28th, according to Emart Traders and OB Beer, some of the Hoegaarden beer cans imported by OB Beer from Belgium were recently sold with rust on them.

A consumer who purchased the rusted Hoegaarden product said, "About two weeks ago, I bought four boxes of 6-pack beer at Traders, and among them, 16 cans were all rusted except for slight differences," adding, "No matter how safe the contents are, if the cans that you put your mouth on are in this condition, shouldn't they not be sold?" The product's expiration date was more than six months away.

Hoegaarden is distributed in two types: one manufactured in Belgium and imported, and the other manufactured by OB Beer in Korea. Among these, the Belgium-produced product uses steel cans instead of aluminum. OB Beer explained to distributors that "even if the cans rust, the liquid part of the product is harmless according to inspection results," and sent an official letter at the end of last year stating that if customer complaints arise due to rusted cans, OB Beer will respond accordingly.

Emart Traders said, "After receiving OB Beer's official letter, we conducted a sampling investigation (a method of selecting some products for inspection)," adding, "We judged there was no problem and sold the products, but some beer cans were severely corroded and sold to consumers."

Hoegaarden beer can distributed while still rusted (Source: Yonhap News)

In response, an OB Beer official emphasized, "Such cases are extremely rare," and "We have completed a full inspection, and the problematic products are currently not being sold in the market." They also explained, "Belgian Hoegaarden uses steel cans, so rust may occur during the shipping process by boat after production, but all rusted products in the logistics warehouse are filtered out and supplied," adding, "However, some products that were not filtered out may have rusted due to moisture during transportation and warehouse storage because they are steel cans."

Traders stated that since they receive supplies directly from OB Beer by the box, there is no possibility of issues occurring during distribution. A Traders representative explained, "The beer is supplied by the box and distributed at room temperature," adding, "Until the boxes are fully opened, we have limitations in checking for rust."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.