Live Chicken Infested with Bugs... Harim Chairman's "Harmless to Humans" Explanation Sparks Controversy

Kim Hong-guk, chairman of Harim, recently faced criticism for his remark that the large number of bugs found in Harim brand raw chicken distributed in the market are "not harmful to humans," which was deemed inappropriate.

A consumer posted on an online community last month that while preparing Harim brand raw chicken imported at a large supermarket in the metropolitan area, they discovered a large amount of foreign substances that appeared to be bugs. The consumer reported that dozens of larvae came out from the neck area to the Integrated Report Center for Fraudulent and Substandard Food operated by the Food Safety Information Service.

Chairman Kim Hong-guk of Harim
Photo by Yonhap News

In response, Harim issued a statement apologizing that the product containing foreign substances was distributed to consumers and said, "We have reorganized to ensure that such an incident does not happen again." They added, "Since the process is automated, it was difficult to conduct a full inspection of all processes, but going forward, we will allocate more personnel to conduct more detailed inspections throughout the entire poultry production process, from breeding to packaging."

Regarding the controversy, Chairman Kim Hong-guk explained at a press conference held the day before for the launch of the children's food brand 'Foodie Buddy' that "eco-friendly farms do not use disinfectants, so there are many bugs," and "they are not harmful to humans at all." He also added, "We will improve hygiene management going forward."

As criticism arose online that these remarks were inappropriate, Harim clarified, "Chairman Kim pointed out that the foreign substances were beetle larvae remaining in the crop that were not filtered out, and additionally mentioned that the bugs appear to be harmless to humans." They explained that this was part of the process of expressing their intention to prevent recurrence and apologize.

[Photo by Online Community]

According to the distribution industry on the 2nd, on-site investigations by Jeongeup City and a pest control company confirmed that the foreign substances were larvae of a type of beetle belonging to the Tenebrionidae family.

Jeongeup City estimates that the chickens ate Tenebrionid larvae growing in the farm bedding, and during the slaughtering process before product shipment, the crop ruptured, allowing the larvae to settle in the esophagus area.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and Jeongeup City plan to impose administrative sanctions such as a "warning" on Harim for violating the Livestock Products Sanitation Control Act. The first violation results in a warning, and the second violation leads to suspension of product manufacturing.

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