Seoul Metropolitan Government conducts special crackdown across 75 vendors including all traditional market sellers

Five businesses caught for false labeling, failure to label and unlicensed operation

All 54 samples of domestic beef and pork tested clear

Officials conduct a special crackdown on food origin labeling ahead of Chuseok. [Seoul Metropolitan Government]
Officials conduct a special crackdown on food origin labeling ahead of Chuseok. [Seoul Metropolitan Government]

The Seoul Metropolitan Government's Civil Justice Police Bureau announced Saturday that it had caught five food vendors violating origin-labeling rules during a special crackdown conducted from Aug. 7 to 18, ahead of the Chuseok holiday. Violations included false country-of-origin labeling, failure to display origin information and operating without a food business license.

The crackdown covered 38 vendors selling jeon (Korean savory pancakes) and 37 livestock product sellers — businesses that see a surge in demand around Chuseok. Twelve investigators from the Food Safety Investigation Team were deployed across four enforcement units, conducting on-site inspections alongside origin testing.

As a result, authorities caught one vendor for false origin labeling, two for failing to display origin information and two for operating without a food business license — five in total.

One business was caught selling braised soybeans while labeling them as domestically grown, even though Chinese soybeans were actually used. Two other vendors sold Korean-style meat patties made with pork without disclosing the pork's country of origin.

Seoul plans to refer the vendor that falsely labeled its products and the two unlicensed operators for criminal investigation, while requesting that the relevant local authorities impose fines on the two vendors that failed to display origin information.

The city also tested 54 samples of domestic beef and pork from 37 livestock product vendors to verify proper origin labeling and found no violations.

The Civil Justice Police Bureau urged consumers to carefully check country-of-origin labels when purchasing food, noting that labeling violations continue to occur.

Earlier this year, ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday in January, the bureau conducted a similar special crackdown targeting traditional markets, livestock product sellers and online shopping platforms for food origin labeling violations and food safety offenses.

"We focused our enforcement on traditional markets and livestock product vendors — places many residents visit ahead of Chuseok — to root out violations related to origin labeling and food hygiene," said Lee Chang-seok, director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Civil Justice Police Bureau. "We will continue to crack down on illegal practices targeting foods and livestock products that see high consumer traffic during holidays and other peak periods, to create a food environment where people can shop with confidence."


ikson@heraldcorp.com