Livestock Product Sellers Deceiving Grades and Parts Caught by Gyeongnam Provincial Special Judicial Police

Imported → Domestic, Grade 2 → Grade 1+, Udun·Moksim → Yangji, etc.

Gyeongnam Province special judicial police are inspecting livestock product sales businesses. [Image source=Gyeongsangnam-do]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] The special judicial police of Gyeongsangnam-do announced on the 26th that they had caught 14 sales establishments deceiving consumers by falsely labeling livestock products.

This is the result of a planned crackdown on the distribution and sale of fraudulent specialty products that the special judicial police began on the 21st of last month.

The special judicial police inspected 46 livestock product sales establishments located in medium and large marts such as food material marts within the province.

▲ Two cases of imported livestock products being sold as domestic products ▲ Two cases of false labeling of meat (Korean beef) grades ▲ Six cases of false labeling of meat (Korean beef) cuts ▲ Five cases of violations of livestock product business operator compliance ▲ Two cases of violations of livestock product preservation and distribution standards ▲ Three other violations related to livestock product handling were found, totaling 20 violations across 14 establishments.

Pork origin identification test kit results. Imported and Jeju pork show one line, while domestic inland pork shows two lines, which is the normal reaction.
[Image source=Gyeongsangnam-do]

According to the special judicial police, the caught establishment A sold frozen pork belly from Belgium as domestic refrigerated pork belly and frozen pork neck from the United States as domestic refrigerated pork neck.

Frozen beef from Canada was disguised as refrigerated Korean beef chuck flap, and domestic beef skirt meat was passed off as Korean beef, with all displayed meat in the store suspected of origin labeling violations.

Establishment B sold domestic pork, not from Jeju, as Jeju pork belly, while establishment C deceived customers by selling 2nd grade flower ribs, brisket, round (for bulgogi), and front leg (for soup) as 1+ grade, and chuck flap and flower sirloin as 1st grade, thus falsifying Korean beef grades.

Four establishments including D sold Korean beef front leg cuts, and another two establishments sold Korean beef round and neck cuts as brisket.

The special judicial police stated, "Before the crackdown, we consulted meat experts and thoroughly collected prior information to carry out this planned operation. As a result, we were able to find the most cases of false labeling of Korean beef cuts."

Gyeongsangnam-do sees that such fraudulent acts are still rampant in the meat sales industry and plans to eradicate violations through strengthened monitoring of livestock product distribution and sales establishments, cooperation and surveillance system establishment between the province and cities/counties.

According to the province, the special judicial police's scope of duties does not include the 'Act on Labeling and Advertising of Foods, etc.', which limits their ability to directly investigate major violations such as false or misleading labeling of Korean beef grades and meat cuts.

Therefore, the province is continuously recommending to central government agencies that this law be included in the special judicial police's duties.

Kim Eun-nam, head of the Social Disaster Division, said, "In these difficult times of soaring prices, damages caused by origin violations and false exaggerated advertisements fall entirely on consumers. We will do our best to block fraudulent food distribution, promote fair trade, and ensure the public's right to know."

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