Crackdown on Origin Labeling of Chuseok Gifts and Ritual Supplies... Until September 20

<기사>NAQS Inspects Suspected Origin Violation Companies and Online Sellers

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service announced on the 29th that from the 30th of this month until the 20th of next month, it will conduct inspections on the origin labeling of agricultural gift sets and ancestral rites items.

The agency stated that it will mainly focus on inspecting cases where foreign products are falsely labeled as domestic products or famous regional specialties, particularly in holiday gift sets such as health functional foods, traditional foods, and specialty products, as well as ancestral rites items like apples and jujubes.

They will conduct pre-inspections of agricultural product import situations and online sales conditions, targeting suspected violators and companies with past violations for on-site inspections. Especially for online sales items, a dedicated cyber inspection team will intensively monitor online malls and delivery apps. The size of the dedicated team will be doubled from 19 last year to 38, and personnel will increase from 75 to 113.

Key agricultural product origin identification information will also be provided on the agency’s website. Methods to distinguish the origin of major gift sets and ancestral rites items will be guided. For example, in the case of beef ribs, domestic products have attached meat on the ribs and thinner rib bones, whereas American products do not have attached meat and have thicker rib bones.

Lee Joo-myung, Director of the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service, said, "We plan to continuously strengthen the management of agricultural product origins by closely monitoring import situations of major items and changes in consumption such as the increase in online sales," and urged, "If there is no origin labeling or if the labeling is suspicious, please report it by phone or through the agency’s website."

Examples of Major Agricultural and Food Product Origin Identification Methods. (Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs)

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