Unreported General Restaurant Operations in Hotels... Incheon City Cracks Down on Large Restaurants with 'Poor Hygiene'

Six Seafood Sellers Also Caught for 'False Origin Labeling'

Incheon City special judicial police are inspecting the food hygiene management status at a restaurant.
[Photo by Incheon City]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] A hotel buffet operating as a regular restaurant without reporting and seafood sales businesses falsely labeling the origin of their products were caught in large numbers in Incheon.

The Incheon Special Judicial Police announced on the 3rd that they conducted intensive inspections over the past month on large restaurants such as hotel buffets and seafood sales businesses around fishing ports and fish markets, uncovering 17 cases violating the Food Sanitation Act and origin labeling regulations.

By violation type, there were 5 cases of false labeling of the origin of agricultural, livestock, and seafood products, 4 cases of storing expired products for cooking or sales purposes, 2 cases each of poor hygiene in kitchens and unauthorized expansion of business premises, and 1 case each of operating a regular restaurant without reporting and storing frozen foods at room temperature.

Among them, Hotel A was caught storing expired meat and bacon in an unreported underground second-floor food freezer with the intention of using them for cooking.

Hotel B was found to have installed kitchen facilities in the underground parking lot without reporting as a regular restaurant and prepared food there, which was then moved to the third-floor restaurant and served as breakfast to guests.

Additionally, large restaurants were caught falsely labeling the origin of foods such as American tofu marked as domestic tofu, chicken made from Brazilian chicken labeled as domestic chicken, and Chinese kimchi labeled as domestic kimchi.

At fishing ports and fish markets, six seafood sales businesses were caught selling Japanese sea squirts and scallops, and Malaysian cuttlefish falsely labeled as domestic products to consumers.

The Incheon Special Judicial Police have booked 14 individuals without detention on charges including violations of the Food Sanitation Act, and notified the responsible district offices to impose administrative measures such as fines on two restaurants with poor kitchen hygiene.

According to the Food Sanitation Act, business operators who store expired products for cooking or sales purposes face a 15-day business suspension, imprisonment of up to 3 years, or fines up to 30 million KRW. Operating a regular restaurant without reporting can result in business closure orders, imprisonment of up to 3 years, or fines up to 30 million KRW.

Furthermore, false labeling of origin is punishable under the Agricultural and Fishery Products Origin Labeling Act by imprisonment of up to 7 years or fines up to 100 million KRW.

Considering that various international events such as the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will be held in Incheon this May, the city plans to strengthen food safety management inspections targeting large restaurants including hotels.

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