"Isn't This Scapegoating?"... Citizens Angry at McDonald's for Disciplining Part-Time Worker Over 'Expiration Date Sticker Switching'

McDonald's Found Using Expired Ingredients
Apology and Promise to Prevent Recurrence Fail to Calm Public Anger
Civic Group Calls Disciplining Part-Time Workers Typical Scapegoating and Abuse of Power

On the morning of the 5th, at a press conference held in front of McDonald's Limited Liability Company in Jongno-gu, Seoul, titled "McDonald's, Stop Turning Part-Timers into Criminals," Park Chang-jin, Vice Representative of the Justice Party, is speaking.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] McDonald's has sparked public outrage after it was revealed that expired buns were reused, and there are criticisms that the company is "scapegoating" by disciplining only the part-time workers responsible. Some civic groups have declared a boycott against McDonald's.

This issue first came to light through a whistleblower video from a part-time worker. The video showed a McDonald's branch reapplying expiration date stickers?a so-called "sticker swapping"?to reuse ingredients that should have been discarded.

As the controversy grew, McDonald's acknowledged the facts and apologized on its official website. Regarding the expired dates, the company stated, "We apologize once again for not adhering to the expiration dates," but explained, "The internally set expiration date (secondary expiration date) is McDonald's own quality control standard to maintain and provide the quality of raw materials at a higher level. It is set shorter than the generally known distribution expiration date (primary expiration date)."

However, citizens expressed anger over the disciplinary actions taken against the part-time worker at the branch, accusing McDonald's of evading responsibility through unfair punishment of the part-time staff. Kim (25, Busan), an office worker who frequently used McDonald's, said, "I've worked part-time several times, but saving ingredients doesn't benefit the part-time worker. A single part-time worker wouldn't have done sticker swapping without orders from headquarters or the branch manager."

On the 12th, a petition titled "McDonald's part-time workers are not criminals" was posted on the Blue House National Petition Board. The petitioner, who introduced themselves as a McDonald's employee, claimed that the cause of the sticker swapping lies with McDonald's headquarters. They explained, "In the store where I currently work, sticker swapping of expiration dates has been routinely done," and added, "If all expired ingredients were discarded as waste, the OC (regional manager) would definitely come and scold us, including the branch manager, for discarding too much."

The petitioner continued, "Watching the disciplinary process of the team leader part-time worker, I worry that if investigations expand to other branches, more part-time workers will be unfairly scapegoated like this," and requested, "Please prevent part-time workers from being unjustly disciplined due to the headquarters shifting responsibility."

Civic groups pointed out that McDonald's headquarters avoided management and supervision responsibilities by disciplining part-time workers. The Part-time Workers' Union (Alba Nojo), participating in the "Committee for Urging Social Responsibility from McDonald's" (tentative name), stated, "We are outraged by McDonald's behavior of shifting all responsibility onto part-time workers who work hard under instructions while receiving minimum wage and evading accountability."

Park Chang-jin, Vice Representative of the Justice Party, also strongly criticized, saying, "Issuing a three-month suspension to young workers is a typical scapegoating and abuse of power," and added, "McDonald's Korea must acknowledge that their flawed business practices have caused suffering to workers, not just offer a superficial apology."

Meanwhile, McDonald's promised measures to prevent recurrence, including △re-inspection of compliance with food safety standards at all stores △strict management and inspection of the secondary expiration dates △strengthening raw material inspection checklists and comprehensive food safety enhancement plans △food safety education for all employees △and external expert re-investigation of the problematic store.

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