Enjoyed Your Meal, But Now Feeling Uneasy... Was Yesterday’s Kimchi Also Mislabeled?

Most Country-of-Origin Labeling Violations Involve Kimchi and Pork

Special Inspections for Holiday Origin Labeling Over Last 5 Years

70% of Kimchi and Pork Violations Were for "False Labeling"

Inspections for proper country-of-origin labeling conducted ahead of major holidays such as Chuseok and Lunar New Year found that violations involving napa cabbage kimchi and pork were the most prevalent. In particular, seven out of ten violations involved falsely labeling imported products as domestic.

According to materials submitted by Assemblyman Lee Yangsoo (People Power Party), a member of the National Assembly’s Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans, and Fisheries Committee, more than 3,700 businesses were caught in nine special inspections for holiday origin labeling (five for Lunar New Year and four for Chuseok) conducted from 2022 to this year by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. By violation type, there were 2,049 cases of “false labeling,” where the country of origin was deliberately misrepresented, and 1,663 cases of “no labeling,” where the country of origin was omitted.

Kimchi. The photo is not related to the specific content of the article.

Over the past five years, there were a total of 4,375 country-of-origin violations by product category. Of these, napa cabbage kimchi accounted for 951 cases, the most among all categories, followed by pork with 922 cases. Combined, violations involving these two items amounted to 1,873 cases, representing 42.8% of the total. In both categories, the majority of cases involved false labeling. Specifically, out of 951 napa cabbage kimchi cases, 753 were false labeling, and out of 922 pork cases, 582 involved false labeling. In total, 1,335 out of 1,873 violations in these two categories, or 71.3%, were false labeling.

This year’s results show a similar trend. There were 150 violations involving napa cabbage kimchi and 91 involving pork, for a combined total of 241 origin labeling violations for these two products, of which 170 cases (70.5%) were for false labeling.

If false country-of-origin labeling is confirmed, violators may face up to seven years in prison or a fine of up to 100 million won. In cases of no labeling, administrative fines may be imposed depending on the category and number of violations.

Assemblyman Lee emphasized, “False country-of-origin labeling during busy holiday seasons distorts consumer choice and harms farmers and merchants who produce and sell honestly. Therefore, this Chuseok’s special inspection should also focus closely on major items with repeated violations, such as napa cabbage kimchi and pork.”

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