Gyeonggi Special Judicial Police to Intensively Crack Down on Illegal Activities by School Meal Suppliers

The Gyeonggi Provincial Special Judicial Police Unit will conduct intensive inspections of 240 companies supplying agricultural products, marine products, livestock products, and kimchi to school meal services in the province from April 20 to April 30, 2026.

This measure aims to ensure the safety of food provided to growing students by inspecting the safety and quality management of meal ingredients at the start of the new school year.

The main targets of the inspection are collective food service food retailers, meat packaging and processing businesses, and kimchi manufacturing companies within the province.

The main inspection items include: ▲ violations of business licensing and related regulations ▲ storage of products past their consumption date for the purpose of sale ▲ violations of standards and specifications related to food ▲ failure to comply with self-quality inspection obligations ▲ false or confusing labeling of the origin of products.

Investigation Notice Poster on Illegal Activities of School Meal Suppliers by the Gyeonggi-do Special Judicial Police Unit

According to the current Food Sanitation Act and Livestock Products Sanitation Management Act, manufacturing, processing, cooking, subdividing, transporting, displaying, or storing products, food, or raw materials past their consumption date for the purpose of sale, or actually selling them, is punishable by up to three years of imprisonment or a fine of up to 30 million won.

Additionally, violating standards related to the manufacturing, processing, use, cooking, or preservation of food under the Food Sanitation Act is subject to up to five years of imprisonment or a fine of up to 50 million won, while violating standards related to the processing, packaging, preservation, or distribution of livestock products under the Livestock Products Sanitation Management Act is subject to up to three years of imprisonment or a fine of up to 30 million won, respectively.

Furthermore, under the Act on Labeling of Origin, false or confusing labeling of the origin of products is punishable by up to seven years of imprisonment or a fine of up to 100 million won.

Kwon Moonju, head of the Gyeonggi Provincial Special Judicial Police Unit, said, "We will thoroughly inspect illegal activities of school meal suppliers in the province to ensure the safety of food for growing students in the new school year."

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