Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Conducts Special Inspection on Seafood Origin Labeling Ahead of Lunar New Year Holiday

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on the 16th that it will conduct a special inspection of seafood origin labeling from the 17th to the 28th ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

This special inspection is carried out to prevent illegal distribution of major seafood products before the Lunar New Year holiday and to ensure that the public can purchase seafood with confidence through accurate origin labeling. In particular, items frequently consumed for ancestral rites and gifts such as gulbi (dried yellow corvina), myeongtae (pollock), octopus, sea bream species, squid, and hairtail, as well as mackerel, red sea bream, yellowtail, and scallops whose import volumes have recently increased, will be intensively inspected.

The inspection targets include seafood manufacturing, distribution, and sales businesses, restaurants, traditional markets, and online sales companies. Violations such as failure to label origin, incorrect labeling methods, and false labeling will be thoroughly checked. Approximately 2,000 personnel from the government, local governments, and the private sector will be deployed.

Those who falsely label the origin will face imprisonment of up to 7 years or a fine of up to 100 million KRW, and those who fail to label the origin will be fined between 50,000 KRW and 10 million KRW. Especially, if origin is falsely labeled more than twice within 5 years, the offender will be subject to aggravated punishment of imprisonment from 1 to 10 years or a fine ranging from 5 million KRW to 150 million KRW.

Im Taehoon, Director of Distribution Policy at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, said, "Through this special inspection, seafood sellers will label origins more transparently, and consumers will be able to purchase with trust, creating a virtuous cycle. When purchasing seafood, please be sure to check the origin labeling, and if you suspect any violation of origin labeling, we ask you to report it."

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