Damyang Nonggwanwon Conducts Comprehensive Inspection of Origin Labels on Gifts and Ancestral Rite Items Ahead of Chuseok

Intensive Inspection of Suspected Origin Violation Companies and Online Sales Businesses Until the 20th

[Damyang=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] The Damyang Office of the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service (Director Kim Seongdam, hereinafter 'Damyang NAQS') announced on the 11th that it will conduct a comprehensive crackdown on origin labeling of agricultural food gift sets and ancestral rites items from the 10th to the 20th (11 days) ahead of the Chuseok holiday.

This crackdown will focus on gift sets in high demand during the Chuseok holiday such as health functional foods, traditional foods, and specialty products, as well as ancestral rites items like apples and jujubes, targeting acts such as selling foreign products disguised as domestic products or falsely marketing them as famous local specialties.

NAQS will promote efficient on-site inspections considering the COVID-19 situation by pre-identifying companies suspected of origin violations and those with past violation records through prior monitoring.

They will conduct on-site crackdowns focusing on companies suspected of violations extracted through prior monitoring of agricultural food import situations and online sales conditions, as well as companies with past violation records.

In particular, for online sales items, a dedicated cyber crackdown team will monitor and enforce regulations targeting online malls and delivery apps.

Additionally, NAQS will provide origin identification information for major agricultural products to help consumers distinguish the origin when purchasing gift sets and ancestral rites items during the Chuseok holiday.

Methods to distinguish the origin of major gift sets and ancestral rites items are as follows: ▲(Red ginseng) Domestic products have short and thick heads, yellowish bodies, and reddish-brown legs, whereas Chinese products have slightly longer and thinner heads, with the entire body and legs being dark brown.

(Beef ribs) Domestic products have attached meat on the ribs, milky white fat color, and thinner rib bones compared to foreign products, while U.S. products have no attached meat on the ribs, white fat color, and thicker rib bones compared to domestic ones.

(Jujube) Domestic jujubes have a strong aroma, lighter surface color, and many stems attached, whereas Chinese jujubes have almost no aroma, darker surface color, and fewer stems attached.

(Chestnuts) Domestic chestnuts are glossy, large in size, and have thick inner shells that are hard to peel, while Chinese chestnuts lack gloss, are smaller, and have thin inner shells that peel easily.

(Shiitake mushrooms) Domestic shiitake mushrooms have wide, irregular caps, clean stems, and high freshness, whereas Chinese shiitake mushrooms have round, uniform caps and stems with foreign substances attached.

Kim Seongdam, Director of Damyang NAQS, said, “We plan to continuously strengthen origin management of agricultural products by closely monitoring changes in consumption such as import status of major items and the increase in online sales so that consumers can trust and purchase our agricultural products.”

He added, “We urge consumers to always check the origin when purchasing agricultural products and to report by phone or through the NAQS website if there is no origin labeling or if the labeling is suspicious.”

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