Serious Hygiene Violations at School Meal Packaged Meat Manufacturers... Gyeonggi Special Judicial Police Crack Down on 16 Locations

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province has uncovered a large number of school meal packaged meat manufacturers violating the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act by failing to comply with the freezer temperature standards and storing expired samgyeopsal (pork belly).

The Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police announced on the 14th that, after inspecting 60 packaged meat manufacturers in the metropolitan area that actually supply school meals from the 20th to the 24th of last month, they found 16 companies (21 cases) violating the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act and other regulations.

Among the major cases, Manufacturer A was found to have managed the freezer temperature, which should be kept below minus 18℃, at around minus 13℃ from five days before the inspection date, thus failing to meet the standard temperature. Additionally, they were caught supplying regular pork hind legs as antibiotic-free products to school meals.

Manufacturer B stored samgyeopsal that was one month past its expiration date in the freezer together with normal products without marking it as "for disposal." They also falsely labeled packaged meat produced using first-grade and 1+ grade raw meat as 1+ grade. In the clean area of the meat processing room, they conducted packaging and unsealing work using cardboard boxes that could carry external contaminants, and used the "unpacking room and packaging room" as a passageway without obtaining permission for the change.

Manufacturer C was caught storing frozen packaged meat made from pig spine bones in the refrigerator together with refrigerated products.

The current Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act stipulates that storing expired products without "for disposal" labeling or failing to comply with storage standards, producing and selling refrigerated packaged meat from frozen raw meat, or failing to prepare related documents such as raw material transaction records, each can result in imprisonment for up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million won.

Also, failure to conduct regular self-quality inspections can lead to imprisonment for up to one year or a fine of up to 10 million won. If a business license holder changes important matters without obtaining permission for the change, they may face imprisonment for up to ten years or a fine of up to 100 million won.

Kim Min-kyung, head of the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police, emphasized, "Although 16 places were caught for illegal activities, the number of companies guided on-site for poor hygiene reached half of the inspection targets," adding, "Stricter management and supervision are necessary for safe school meals."

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