Gyeonggi-do Conducts Joint Hygiene Inspections at Over 200 School Meal Livestock Product Suppliers

School cafeteria dining area

Gyeonggi Province will conduct a focused inspection on hygiene aspects such as food poisoning for livestock product suppliers delivering to school meals.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 1st that from the 4th to the 15th, a joint inspection by the province and city/county governments will be conducted targeting 200 livestock product-related companies producing livestock products supplied to school meals in Gyeonggi Province and Seoul.

This inspection follows a special inspection last year of 60 packaged meat suppliers for school meals, where many violations such as poor hygiene and expiration date tampering were identified.

Gyeonggi Province plans to expand the scope this year to create a safer environment for meal supply.

The main inspection items include ▲ hygienic handling and manufacturing of livestock products ▲ compliance with storage temperature and proper operation of refrigeration and freezing facilities ▲ sale or use of products past their consumption (distribution) expiration date ▲ implementation of microbial safety management such as self-quality inspections.

In addition to hygiene inspections, Gyeonggi Province will collect livestock products supplied to school meals for safety testing. In particular, food poisoning bacteria tests will be conducted on ground meat, ground processed meat products, ready-to-eat products, and sterilized products.

For non-compliant products detected during the focused inspection, Gyeonggi Province will investigate the cause, recall and dispose of the products, and file complaints and take administrative actions against companies violating the Livestock Products Hygiene Control Act and related laws.

Choi Kyung-mook, head of the Animal Quarantine and Hygiene Division of Gyeonggi Province, stated, "Livestock products have a higher possibility of food poisoning bacteria detection than general foods, so they are managed more strictly under the Livestock Products Hygiene Control Act rather than the Food Sanitation Act. We will thoroughly manage the hygiene of livestock products supplied to school meals so that students can consume them with confidence."

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