The son who joined the military brought red ginseng saying "Please eat," but it was cheap herbal medicine

Caught in unannounced inspection by MFDS... Referred to prosecution
Over 5 billion KRW worth sold by Gukgun Bokjidan and others

A food company and its representative were caught by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for manufacturing and selling ginseng and red ginseng beverages using toxic medicinal herbs such as Gosam (a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the legume family).

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety referred an agricultural cooperative corporation and its representative, Mr. Kim, to the prosecution on charges of violating the Food Sanitation Act for producing and selling red ginseng and Cheonma products using 'Gosam', 'Baekji', 'Taeksa', and 'Chajeonja', which are prohibited for food use due to their toxicity and side effects.

Detected Red Ginseng
[Photo by Ministry of Food and Drug Safety]

Gosam, Baekji, Chajeonja, and Taeksa are medicinal herbs with pharmacological effects such as toxicity and side effects, and cannot be used or processed as food ingredients. The purchase cost of these materials is known to be about 8 to 23 times cheaper compared to red ginseng (approximately 40,000 to 90,000 KRW per kg).

According to the National Herbal Medicine Information and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation Institute, Gosam (Sophora Root) is "used to treat hemorrhage, eczema, skin itching, jaundice, urinary retention, pulmonary tuberculosis, etc." Baekji (Angelica Dahurica Root) is "used to treat toothache, white tongue coating, headache, etc." Chajeonja (Plantago Seed) is "used to treat diarrhea, edema, cystitis, etc." and Taeksa (Alisma Rhizome) is "used to treat urinary disorders, edema, ascites, jaundice, diarrhea, etc."

In December of last year, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety conducted an unannounced inspection of the company and discovered violations of the Food Sanitation Act, including manufacturing and selling food using these ingredients. They requested administrative action from the relevant authorities and initiated an investigation to confirm the criminal facts.

Among the health supplements manufactured using illegal raw materials detected by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, all products under the Muju Cheonmajeong brand with an expiration date before June 17, 2024, are affected.
[Photo by Ministry of Food and Drug Safety]

The main violations include ▲ manufacturing and selling food using ingredients that cannot be used in food ▲ falsifying production and raw material transaction documents ▲ failing to indicate some raw material names in Korean labeling.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, representative Mr. Kim purchased 2.9 tons of Gosam and other ingredients, which cannot be used as food raw materials, through a medicinal herb dealer, and from June 2019 until last year, manufactured them into ginseng and red ginseng beverages, liquid tea, and other processed products.

The products were manufactured into 15 items including Cheonma Jeongpungcho, Muju Cheonma Jeong, Goryeo Hongsam Jeong Gold, and Muju Kkujippong. Mr. Kim sold approximately 4.95 billion KRW worth of these products to 41 distributors, including the Armed Forces Welfare Service used by soldiers.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety explained that through seizure and search, they confiscated about 3 tons of illegal products, 4.2 tons of recalled products, and additionally discovered about 19.7 tons hidden by suspect Mr. Kim, disposing of a total of approximately 27 tons of products.

Furthermore, during the investigation, the Ministry requested the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office to investigate charges of evidence destruction instruction by the company and Mr. Kim, as well as violations of laws related to food labeling and advertising.

The detected illegal products can be checked on the Food Safety Korea website.

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