10 Cases of Pet Food Standard Violations Detected... Excessive Heavy Metals Included

Nonggwanwon Detects 10 Violations Among 81 Products

A dog inside a glass partition at a pet shop in Seoul is struggling with the heat. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service announced on the 17th that it investigated 81 online pet food products and detected violations in 10 products. Cases exceeding the heavy metal permissible standards were identified.

The agency reported that after collecting 81 pet food products from 22 online markets, violations of the Feed Control Act were found in 10 products from 8 companies.

The violations included exceeding heavy metal permissible standards (1 product), violations of preservative labeling (3 products), and omissions or errors in mandatory packaging information such as the name and form of the feed, the name of ingredients, and the manufacturing date (6 products).

The agency notified local governments about the 8 companies (10 products). The local governments plan to take related measures such as administrative actions according to the Feed Control Act.

According to the law, violations of harmful substance standards can result in business suspension from 1 to 6 months, imprisonment up to 3 years, or fines up to 30 million KRW. For labeling standard violations, penalties can include business suspension from 1 to 6 months, imprisonment up to 1 year, or fines up to 10 million KRW.

Lee Joo-myung, head of the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service, said, "Considering the increase in pet-owning households and pet food purchases, we plan to strengthen quality and safety management of pet food products sold not only offline but also online," and urged, "Feed manufacturers, importers, distributors, and sellers must strictly comply with legal standards."

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