Summer Outdoor Ready Meals and Health-Boosting Seafood Origin Labeling Crackdown

Noryangjin Fish Market crackdown site.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] The National Fishery Products Quality Management Service announced on the 28th that it will conduct a special crackdown on seafood origin labeling from the 30th of this month to the 13th of next month during the summer vacation season.

This special crackdown on origin labeling aims to ensure that the public can purchase seafood, which is commonly enjoyed as convenient outdoor meal kits for camping or as summer health foods during the vacation season, with confidence.

Freshwater eel and mudfish, representative health food seafood, have large import volumes from countries such as China. Since imported products have a significant price difference compared to domestic products and are available in much larger quantities, violations of origin labeling frequently occur. Therefore, stricter inspections are planned during this special crackdown period.

Additionally, with domestic travel expected to increase this summer due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), focused inspections will also be conducted on seafood such as live red seabream and live scallops, which are increasingly imported and commonly enjoyed at travel destinations.

Red seabream is a popular item mainly consumed as sashimi, with a large import volume, but it closely resembles domestic products in appearance, raising concerns about origin mislabeling. Scallops are often kept alive in aquariums at grilled shellfish restaurants and sashimi restaurants, where violations of origin labeling frequently occur.

The National Fishery Products Quality Management Service plans to monitor delivery apps and online sales where convenient seafood products are sold, in addition to on-site special inspections, to fundamentally block origin mislabeling and illegal distribution.

Those who falsely label the origin face imprisonment of up to seven years or a fine of up to 100 million won, and those who fail to label the origin are subject to fines ranging from 50,000 won to 10 million won. In particular, if origin is falsely labeled more than twice within five years, aggravated punishment will be imposed, including imprisonment from one to ten years or fines ranging from 5 million won to 150 million won.

Yang Dong-yeop, Director of the National Fishery Products Quality Management Service, urged, "Consumers should always check the origin labeling when purchasing seafood, and if the origin is not labeled or if the labeled origin is suspicious, please actively report it."

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