"Former McDonald's Executive Fined in First Trial for Falsifying E. coli Contaminated Patty Inventory"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] A former McDonald's executive was fined for falsifying inventory quantities to avoid administrative sanctions despite knowing that E. coli was detected in delivered hamburger patties.

On the 23rd, Chief Judge Choi Changhoon of the Criminal Division 8 at the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Kim, former executive director of McDonald's Korea, to a fine of 5 million won on charges of obstruction of official duties by deception. At that time, Song, a director of the patty supplier company M, and Hwang, the factory manager, were each fined 10 million won.

Chief Judge Choi stated, "The defendants' deception was the cause that led to the administrative action in this case," and added, "It is realistically unlikely for the responsible officials to verify patty inventory across all McDonald's stores nationwide." He judged that the lack of on-site inspection by officials does not necessarily mean the review was insufficient.

Earlier, Kim and others were brought to trial on charges of deceiving officials to avoid administrative sanctions by claiming that the delivered patty inventory was exhausted after hemorrhagic E. coli was detected in beef patties supplied by company M to McDonald's Korea in June 2016. In reality, about 4,500 patties supplied by company M remained in stock. Song and Hwang were also prosecuted for violating the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act and were each sentenced to suspended prison terms.

The prosecution received complaints from consumers against McDonald's Korea and investigated, but in February 2018 concluded the investigation by indicting only the M company officials, stating that a causal relationship between McDonald's hamburgers and the illnesses could not be proven. Consumers claimed they contracted hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS, also known as hamburger disease) after eating undercooked McDonald's hamburgers.

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