Prison Sentence Confirmed for Meat Processing Company Earning 100 Million Won by Selling "Goreum Dwaejigogi"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] Business operators who bought pork with inflammation and pus at a low price and distributed it after cutting out only the visibly abnormal parts were confirmed guilty.

The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice No Tae-ak) announced on the 6th that it upheld the original sentences of 1 year and 6 months imprisonment for Mr. A, the CEO of a meat packaging company indicted for violating the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act, and 2 years imprisonment for Director Mr. B. Meat processing worker Mr. C, who was also tried, was sentenced to 1 year imprisonment with a 2-year probation.

Mr. A, the CEO of a meat packaging company in Seo-gu, Incheon, along with Director Mr. B, purchased 56 tons of pork neck cuts that had to be discarded due to pyogenic granulomas and other pus formations from a company in Cheongju, Chungbuk, at a low price from May 2017 to July 2018.

Subsequently, meat processor Mr. C, for the purpose of selling to retail stores, was indicted for cutting out only the visibly abnormal parts with a knife, processing the meat into miscellaneous meat, and selling it about 300 times for over 150 million won.

During the trial, Mr. A and others argued that since they processed the meat after removing the inflamed parts, they did not sell harmful livestock products, but this was not accepted.

Another employee who removed the inflamed parts testified that the meat they sold was "rotten in spots. I vomited for several days while working at first, and the smell was foul. I quit the job and have not been able to eat meat since then."

The first and second trials pointed out, "The pork collected by Mr. A and others was treated as waste in the factory and handled unsanitarily without refrigeration," and "It is highly likely that the meat chunks in the container were mixed together and overall contaminated with pus."

They further stated, "By purchasing pork parts with granulomas that should have been discarded during the slaughtering process at a low price, processing and selling them, they widely distributed meat that could harm human health to general consumers," explaining the reasons for the guilty verdict.

The Supreme Court found no legal error in this judgment and confirmed the punishment as is.

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