"Boiled Vigorously, It's Fine" Leftover Pollack Soup and Reused Kkakdugi... Citizens' Outrage

Cases of Food Reuse in Restaurants Shared on Online Communities
"How Can We Trust to Eat?", "Playing with Food" Citizens Outraged
Reuse of Cooked Dishes and Side Dishes Violates Food Sanitation Law
Saliva and Others Spoil Food, Risking Food Poisoning

The kitchen scene of a frozen pollack stew restaurant where controversy arose over food reuse (left) and the receipt of the restaurant attached by a witness (right) / Photo by JTBC Broadcast Capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Controversy has erupted as cases of restaurants secretly reusing food have come to light. In some cases, leftover stew from one customer was reheated and served to another, while in others, leftover side dishes were mixed with fresh ones and reused. As these incidents became known, public outrage has grown. Critics point out that such practices are not only unhygienic but also pose a risk of food poisoning due to spoiled food.

On the 22nd, an online community called 'Bobae Dream' posted a message titled 'Review of a Dongtae-tang Restaurant at Busan New Port.' The author of the post stated, "The Dongtae-tang restaurant that violated the Food Sanitation Act received a 15-day business suspension," adding, "The district office reported the case to the police, and fines and other penalties will be handled by the police."

They continued, "The owner says they will no longer operate the business," and added, "Although the restaurant closed before the district office's punishment was finalized, making the penalty seem less meaningful, the punishment has been completed nonetheless."

The author had previously claimed in a post on the same community on the 17th that they witnessed the restaurant reusing food.

According to the post, on the 11th, the author ordered Dongtae-tang with gon-i (roe) added at a Dongtae-tang restaurant in Changwon, Gyeongnam. During the meal, they saw a restaurant employee pouring leftover food from another customer into a large pot and reheating it. When the author questioned, "Are you reheating the food?" the employee explained, "We boiled it to feed to the dogs."

When the author contacted the restaurant the next day to inform them of this, the restaurant reportedly responded with statements such as, "We'll pay 200,000 won for medicine, so let's drop it," "It took time to thaw the frozen gon-i," and "We boiled it vigorously, so the food is not spoiled," which further fueled the controversy.

Cases of restaurants reusing cooked dishes and side dishes have continued to occur. On the 7th, a YouTuber filming employees at a pork soup restaurant in Busan captured footage of some side dishes, such as kkakdugi, being reused, sparking controversy.

A video capturing the reuse of side dishes at a restaurant in Busan sparked controversy. / Photo by YouTube video capture

As cases of food reuse being served to customers became known, citizens expressed outrage. A 20-year-old office worker, Mr. A, said, "I never thought there would actually be restaurants that recycle dishes left uneaten by others," adding, "If such restaurants have been openly operating until now, how can we trust restaurant food in the future?"

Another office worker, Mr. B (32), pointed out, "Food contaminated with human saliva often spoils quickly even when refrigerated. That shows how important food hygiene is," and criticized, "It's unbelievable that people who run food businesses don't even follow such basic rules."

In fact, reusing food can be critically unhygienic. Food mixed with saliva or respiratory secretions from others can cause food poisoning if stored for a long time.

For this reason, food reuse is illegal under the current Food Sanitation Act. According to Article 57 of the Enforcement Rules of the Act, as a general rule, leftover food from customers in restaurants cannot be reused, cooked again, or stored. This prohibition is even stricter for ingredients that spoil or deteriorate easily and require refrigeration.

Nevertheless, cases of food reuse being caught continue to occur. According to data from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, from 2015 to 2020, there were a total of 183,371 administrative sanctions for violations of the Food Sanitation Act. Among these, the category 'Violation of Operator Compliance'?which includes food reuse cases?accounted for 46,833 cases, the highest number.

Meanwhile, the Changwon restaurant known for reusing Dongtae-tang has been confirmed to have violated the Food Sanitation Act by the Jinhae District Office's Culture and Sanitation Division, which has issued a preliminary administrative sanction notice. According to the district office, even if the employee acted on their own without the owner present, the business owner will be held responsible for the penalty.

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