Imported Livestock Products Masquerading as Domestic During Vacation Season...Nongkwanwon Uncovers 119 Origin Labeling Violations

53 Businesses Criminally Charged for False Labeling
Administrative Fines of 12 Million Won Imposed on 53 for Missing Labels

With the summer vacation season driving a sharp increase in the demand for livestock products, a significant number of violations involving the mislabeling of foreign products as domestic have been uncovered.

On August 9, the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service announced that it had conducted a focused inspection of livestock product origin labeling between July 15 and 31, a period corresponding with heightened summer demand. As a result, 119 violations were detected across 106 businesses.

The origin labeling enforcement team is inspecting the origin labeling of livestock products. Rural Development Administration

This round of inspections targeted businesses selling livestock products, meat processing and manufacturing facilities, restaurants and butcheries located in popular vacation (tourist) destinations, as well as online shopping malls and delivery apps. The main focus was on detecting the sale of imported livestock products as domestic, the deliberate confusion or misrepresentation of origin, and cases where no origin labeling was present.

To enhance the effectiveness of online monitoring for platforms such as shopping malls and delivery apps, Nongkwanwon’s own cyber inspection team conducted proactive monitoring for violations related to origin labeling. For businesses suspected of illicit distribution, on-site inspection teams were deployed to verify the accuracy of origin labeling. In the case of pork, rapid test kits capable of immediately determining the origin were actively used on-site, further improving the efficiency of the enforcement activities.

By category, violations broke down as follows: pork accounted for 82 cases, beef for 15 cases, chicken for 12 cases, duck for 7 cases, goat for 2 cases, and lamb for 1 case. By business type, 66 were general restaurants, 20 were meat retail shops, 3 were meat processing businesses, 2 were manufacturing/processing firms, and 2 were meat distribution businesses.

Among the businesses caught in this operation, 53 were criminally charged for mislabeling imported livestock products as domestic and selling them as such. An administrative fine totaling 12 million won was imposed on another 53 businesses for failing to display origin labeling.

Cheol Kim, head of the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service, stated, "We plan to continuously oversee the adequacy of origin labeling for livestock products, especially as imports and consumption continue to rise." He added, "In September, we will intensively monitor for illicit distribution practices related to Chuseok gifts and food products for ancestral rites."

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