Gyeonggi Special Judicial Police Crack Down on 14 Illegal Medical Device and Health Functional Food Sellers

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The Gyeonggi-do Special Judicial Police Unit has uncovered a large number of businesses illegally selling medical devices or health functional foods by falsely claiming that medical devices approved for muscle pain relief have dementia prevention effects, or by advertising brain disease and stroke prevention effects in general product catalogs.

The Special Judicial Police Unit announced on the 16th that it investigated 80 medical device and health functional food sales businesses in the province from the 17th to the 28th of last month and identified 14 businesses violating the 'Medical Device Act and Health Functional Food Act.'

Among the major cases, a medical device experience center located in Bucheon City posted banners inside the store falsely and exaggeratedly advertising that a medical device approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for 'urinary incontinence treatment and muscle pain relief' had effects such as 'diabetes prevention, dementia prevention, constipation and hemorrhoid improvement, inflammation prevention, and immune system enhancement,' resulting in a crackdown.

A medical device manufacturer located in Gwangmyeong City was caught for false and exaggerated advertising in a promotional video on the company’s website, claiming that a medical device approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for 'stimulating hearing for auditory rehabilitation' had effects such as 'brain health care, insomnia relief, and brain toxin elimination.'

A business located in Anyang City was found to have advertised three types of general products not approved as medical devices in brochures and flyers, claiming effects such as 'disease care through blood diagnosis, improvement of atopy and rhinitis, prevention of brain diseases and stroke including Alzheimer's, relief of autoimmune diseases, premenstrual syndrome, and breast pain, pain and inflammation management, and lymph node circulation,' thereby misleading consumers into mistaking general products for medical devices.

A miscellaneous food retail store located in Bucheon City was caught displaying and selling 30 boxes of eight types of health functional foods including omega-3, lutein, and probiotics without reporting the sale of health functional foods to the local city hall.

Under the current 'Medical Device Act,' false or exaggerated advertising of the performance or effects of medical devices, or advertising or labeling that may cause misunderstanding that non-medical devices have similar performance or effects as medical devices, is punishable by imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million won.

Additionally, according to the 'Health Functional Food Act,' selling health functional foods without business registration is punishable by imprisonment of up to five years or a fine of up to 50 million won.

Kim Min-kyung, head of the Gyeonggi-do Special Judicial Police Unit, said, "We focused our investigation on businesses handling medical devices and health functional foods expected to have high demand as gifts ahead of the Lunar New Year," and emphasized, "We will continue to do our best to prevent damage to residents caused by false and exaggerated advertising of medical devices and to establish order in the distribution of health functional foods."

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