“Food Safety Is No Joke!” … Gyeongnam Province’s Planned Crackdown on ‘Naked Cabbage and Rotten Ingredient Kimchi’

Inspection of Origin Violations, Substandard Ingredients, and Hygiene

Gyeongnam Provincial Government Office.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] The special judicial police of Gyeongsangnam-do will launch a 'planned crackdown' from the 21st to preemptively block illegal activities such as origin labeling violations and the use of substandard ingredients.

Last March, there was a controversy over Chinese-made 'bare cabbage,' and last month, a subsidiary of a kimchi specialty company operated by a master was caught making kimchi with rotten cabbage and radish.

The province stated that due to these two incidents, consumption of imported kimchi decreased while demand for domestically produced kimchi increased, and with rising prices of agricultural and marine raw materials and labor costs, the possibility of origin violations in kimchi ingredients has grown.

They explained that the reason for implementing the planned crackdown is the expectation that illegal activities will increase as inspections of food handling companies have somewhat decreased due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The special judicial police will focus on cracking down on ▲ falsely labeling imported kimchi as domestic and selling it ▲ falsely labeling the origin of raw materials in manufacturing and sales ▲ mixing domestic and foreign products and disguising them as domestic ▲ and the use of spoiled or deteriorated raw materials and food.

They plan to inspect the overall situation regarding the origin of agricultural products and places with a high likelihood of illegal activities during the kimchi manufacturing and distribution process to detect unscrupulous acts by some companies.

A food expert said, “The recent issue of substandard kimchi has once again highlighted the importance of regular hygiene inspections of food,” adding, “Before the full onset of the food poisoning season, it is necessary to thoroughly check the factory operations of food companies.”

Kim Eun-nam, head of the Social Disaster Division, said, “With the rapid increase in COVID-19 confirmed cases and the rise in isolated treatment patients, interest in self-consumed food ingredients has grown,” and added, “We will actively respond to illegal acts by companies to minimize consumers’ anxiety about food.”

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