"Washing hands, mouth, and even face... 1.3 Billion Bacteria Thriving on Restaurant Wet Towels"

Bacteria Detected Exceeding Standard by 13,000 Times
Busan Dong-gu Orders Disposal of 20kg of Wet Towels

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[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Nayeon] A wet towel supplier in Busan detected bacteria exceeding the standard by 13,000 times.

On the 29th, Dong-gu District Office in Busan announced that bacteria exceeding the standard were detected in products from wet towel company A, and ordered the disposal of 20kg of the affected products.

Company A supplies wet towels to restaurants, collects them after customers use them, and disinfects them.

With the summer season approaching, the district office began an investigation into hygiene wet towel manufacturing and processing companies, recently collecting some wet towels from the company and requesting testing from the Busan City Health and Environment Research Institute.

The test results showed that bacteria exceeding the standard by 13,000 times were detected in the wet towels that Company A had packaged in plastic and stored for supply to restaurants.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety standards, wet towel companies must disinfect so that bacteria do not exceed 100,000 per towel.

Here, bacteria refer to general bacteria excluding pathogenic bacteria (such as E. coli). General bacteria do not directly harm the human body, but if they exceed the standard, it indicates possible contamination by pathogenic bacteria and serves as an indicator of how well disinfection was performed.

It is known that up to 1.3 billion general bacteria per towel were detected in Company A’s wet towels.

A Dong-gu official stated, "Although the exact cause of contamination cannot be confirmed, it appears that sterilization was not properly conducted during the process," adding, "Since this is a violation warranting a 5-day business suspension, administrative procedures are underway, and we plan to file charges for imposing fines."

The company incinerated all 500 wet towels produced during the period when bacteria were detected at a location designated by the district office on the 25th.

Meanwhile, in May, a wet towel processing company in Nam-gu, Busan, was fined after bacteria exceeding the standard by 4,000 times were confirmed.

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