Dunkin' Donuts Apologizes, "Will Make Every Effort to Improve"... "Will Strictly Respond to Terror Acts"

Deep Apology, Will Take Heavy Responsibility
Strict Application of Production Equipment Cleaning Cycles
Hygiene Inspection Through Third-Party Quality Inspection Agency
Suspicion of Video Manipulation and Signs of Food Terrorism
Presumed Planned Act, Investigation Requested from Police

Video inside Dunkin' Donuts Anyang factory.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] BR Korea, a subsidiary of SPC Group, officially apologized regarding the hygiene controversy at the Dunkin' Donuts factory.

On the 1st, BR Korea stated in a press release, "We sincerely apologize for causing concern and worry to customers, franchisees, and everyone due to recent hygiene-related broadcast reports." They added, "We deeply apologize for the inadequate management of production facilities and promise to make every effort to improve with a strong sense of responsibility." On the 29th of last month, a broadcast reported footage received about the donut manufacturing facilities at the Dunkin' Donuts Anyang factory. According to the footage, the ventilation system at the production site was covered with grease, and yellowish substances were seen dripping onto the flour dough placed below.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is currently inspecting all Dunkin' Donuts production centers. BR Korea plans to implement proactive measures first. The company will conduct thorough hygiene inspections of all workplaces and production facilities by the 3rd. Additionally, the cleaning cycle for all production equipment will be managed more strictly than HACCP standards. Starting from the 4th, hygiene inspections will be conducted on production facilities by a global third-party quality inspection agency. Obsolete equipment will be replaced by next month.

BR Korea stated, "We deeply acknowledge the pain of franchisees affected by this incident and will seek mutually beneficial support measures through consultations with franchisees in the future."

However, separately from this, during the verification process of the report, suspicions of manipulation of the submitted footage and signs of food terrorism were discovered, and strict measures will be taken. BR Korea said, "The employee presumed to be the whistleblower secretly brought in a small camera to film, and it was confirmed that they intentionally inserted foreign substances into the product dough." They added, "This act corresponds to food terrorism and is presumed to be a planned act, so we have requested a police investigation." Upon reviewing the factory's closed-circuit television (CCTV), the company found that on July 28th, an on-site employee was secretly filming with a pen-shaped small camera on an unmanned line. In the footage, the employee appeared to deliberately try to drop grease from the equipment onto the dough or scrape it off with a rubber spatula. The employee was not scheduled to work on that equipment line at that time or assigned to that line, according to the investigation.

The Korean Federation of Food Industry Workers' Unions and the BRK Dunkin' Donuts Labor Union also strongly criticized the actions of the employee presumed to be the whistleblower in a statement. The union said, "The employee violated the basic cleanliness rules that must be followed to produce safe food and appears to have staged the incident intentionally to report it." They pointed out, "Workers in the food industry must maintain cleanliness, cleaning, and hygiene management as basic principles, but the whistleblower ignored these fundamental hygiene procedures and processes during work." They added, "Those who play with food safety must be severely punished without exception."

Meanwhile, civic groups have filed a complaint against Dunkin' Donuts for violating the Food Sanitation Act. They demanded, "The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety must conduct a large-scale special inspection of all SPC Group manufacturing plants to ensure there is no hygiene risk to citizens' food." The whistleblower also stated that morning, "I have raised the issue of improving hygiene conditions to the company since before the introduction of new production facilities in 2019, but no corrections were made," and requested, "Please focus more on how serious the factory's hygiene conditions are."

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