Gyeonggi Special Judicial Police Crack Down on 65 Illegal Activities by Food Manufacturers, Processors, and Sellers During Chuseok Season

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province has uncovered a large number of Chuseok peak season food manufacturers violating the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act by failing to comply with food storage temperatures or storing livestock products past their expiration dates.

The Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police announced on the 7th that from the 16th to the 31st of last month, they conducted inspections on 360 food manufacturing and processing companies and livestock product processing (sales) companies in the province, uncovering 65 companies (66 cases) violating the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act and related laws.

Among the major cases, meat sales company A was caught storing Korean beef brisket (domestic/13.1kg), which must be kept frozen at -18℃ or below, in a refrigerated warehouse at about -0.4℃.

Food manufacturer B was caught during this inspection for installing an outdoor food warehouse of 198.84㎡ beyond the registered area with the competent administrative agency and using it for storing raw materials such as perilla oil and flavored oil. Those registered for business must report any changes in business area.

Meat sales company C was caught storing 39.9kg of U.S. beef (refrigerated) that was 11 days past its expiration date in a refrigerated warehouse without marking it as "for disposal."

Food manufacturer D was found to have produced products without conducting self-quality inspections for two types of tofu for two years and six months since February 26, 2020, despite the requirement to request professional inspections at least once every three months.

Storing livestock products past their expiration date without "for disposal" markings or failing to comply with storage standards, or producing and selling refrigerated packaged meat from frozen raw meat, can result in imprisonment for up to three years or fines up to 30 million won.

Additionally, failure to conduct regular self-quality inspections for manufactured and processed foods can lead to imprisonment for up to three years or fines up to 30 million won under the Food Sanitation Act, and for livestock products, imprisonment for up to one year or fines up to 10 million won under the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act.

Kim Min-kyung, head of the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police, stated, "We want to raise awareness among some business owners who commit illegal acts during the Chuseok peak season and hope to spread a clean and hygienic food manufacturing and distribution culture." She emphasized, "Since similar violations occur every year, we will continue inspections and do our best to eradicate illegal activities."

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