Company and CEO Illegally Manufacturing Liquid Herbal Tea Using Gosan and Baekji Herbal Medicines Sent to Prosecution

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The Food and Drug Safety Ministry announced on the 20th that a food manufacturer and its representative were referred to the prosecution on charges of violating the Food Sanitation Act for producing and selling liquid tea made from herbal medicines that are not suitable for use as food.

According to the Ministry, the representative of the food manufacturer, Mr. A, is suspected of purchasing 2,900 kg of Gosan, Baekji, Chajeoncha, and Taeksa?herbal medicines priced about 8 to 23 times cheaper than the cost of purchasing red ginseng?from an herbal medicine seller and using them as food ingredients. The Ministry explained that herbal medicines with toxic or pharmacological effects cannot be used as food ingredients that anyone can consume.

Mr. A reportedly manufactured red ginseng and Cheonma products using 2,500 kg of Gosan and other ingredients from around June 2019 to December last year, and sold approximately 4.95 billion KRW worth of these products to 41 distributors, including the Military Welfare Corporation.

The Ministry conducted a search and seizure at the food manufacturer, confiscating about 3,000 kg of illegal products and 4,200 kg of recalled products, and additionally uncovered about 19,700 kg of products hidden by Mr. A, resulting in a total disposal of approximately 27,000 kg.

The Ministry added that it requested an investigation into the company and Mr. A for charges of 'evidence destruction instruction' revealed during the investigation process.

Furthermore, the Ministry shared the criminal facts with related ministries such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, and the relevant local governments to enable necessary measures such as reconsideration of financial support and exclusion from bidding according to their respective laws.

Last year, the Ministry received a complaint about the company and conducted an inspection, uncovering violations of the Food Sanitation Act. Accordingly, it requested administrative action from the competent authorities and initiated an investigation.

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