Five Caught for Illegal Sale of Ddujjonkku and Butter Tteok; 25,000 Units Seized

Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Refers Unregistered Manufacturers and Distributors to Prosecution

A group of individuals was caught illegally manufacturing and selling Dubai Chewy Cookies (Ddujjonkku) and Shanghai Butter Tteok (Butter Tteok), which have recently gained popularity, without registering their food manufacturing and processing business.

Illegal Manufacturing Site of Dujjonku. Ministry of Food and Drug Safety

On June 1, the Central Investigation Unit for Hazardous Offenses of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced that, after receiving information about the illegal manufacturing and distribution of Ddujjonkku and Butter Tteok in Gyeonggi Province and launching an investigation, they confirmed that four individuals and one corporation had manufactured and sold the products without proper registration.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has referred the suspects to the prosecution on charges of violating the Food Sanitation Act and requested administrative action from the relevant local authorities. In addition, they seized approximately 25,000 units of illegal products that had not yet been distributed to the market.

According to the Ministry, unregistered manufacturer A produced about 70,000 Ddujjonkku between February and March of this year by moving the manufacturing site to different locations and sold them to B. B then deceived distributors by pretending that the Ddujjonkku had been produced by their own company and sold around 55,000 units.

Unregistered manufacturer C illegally produced about 10,000 Butter Tteok over the course of one month starting around March 6 at a snack bar that was temporarily closed, and sold them to D, the head of a coffee franchise. D then supplied the products to eight franchise locations. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety referred both D and the company to the prosecution.

It was revealed that they employed elaborate methods to evade detection, such as relocating their manufacturing facilities to different areas or temporarily closing the snack bar they operated to conceal the manufacturing site.

An official from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety stated, "We will continue to thoroughly and strictly investigate illegal manufacturing and distribution activities carried out for profit without registering food businesses, and will strive to create an environment where the public can safely consume food with confidence."

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