[Anchor]
To prevent shrinkflation—where chicken portions shrink while prices remain the same—the government has introduced a mandatory weight labeling system for chicken. Top 10 chicken brands are now required to display menu weights in stores, on delivery apps, and on their websites. Following a six-month grace period, full enforcement began this month.
Reporter Jo Yoon-ha looked into whether these rules are actually being followed. Let's watch the report before we discuss it further.
[Reporter]
A franchise chicken restaurant in Seoul.
Checking the kiosk to order chicken, no weight is displayed.
The menu board is no different.
[(Is this the official menu?) Yes, it is. (Are there any weights written on it?) We don't write anything specific down, but it's generally around 800g or more.]
Another brand's store also lacks weight labels anywhere on the menu board or walls.
[(Boss, does it not say how many grams this is?) For bone-in, it's around 943g right now, and boneless is 700g.]
At another brand's location, the chicken weight is obscured by a country-of-origin labeling poster.
[(Do you not know how many grams this is?) It's between 950g and 1,050g.]
When reporters randomly checked 10 locations—one from each of the top 10 brands subject to the chicken weight labeling system—three of them failed to display weights properly.
Headquarters for these brands stated that they had instructed all franchise stores to display weights and conducted inspections, adding that they will check and take action regarding any stores where information was omitted.
What about the actual weight of the chicken?
We purchased some directly and weighed them.
Some chickens labeled with a weight of 950g actually reached 1,300g, while others weighed only 626g.
This means the actual weight ranged from 37% more to 34% less than labeled, rendering the weight labels inconsistent and meaningless.
However, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety maintains the stance that it is difficult to classify these instances as violations of the weight labeling system.
This is because the labeling standard is based on the weight of the raw chicken before cooking, rather than the cooked chicken.
The ministry explains that the final weight of chickens of the same size varies depending on the cooking process and recipe, which is why the "pre-cooking" weight is required to be displayed.
Even after the introduction of the chicken weight labeling system last December, consumer complaints about meager chicken portions remain significant.
[Shin Su-bin / Gangseo-gu, Seoul: Whenever I order chicken, I feel like I almost never know how many grams it is. I've never felt like the portion was generous, and it always feels lacking.]
[Lee Jeong-su / Secretary-General, Korea National Council of Consumer Organizations: Consumers don't see the pre-cooked product with their own eyes. For information to have value, displaying the weight of the final product after cooking would probably be much more helpful.]
Given that chicken is frequently ordered for delivery and even served cooked in-store—making it difficult to know the weight of the raw chicken—voices are calling for improvements that practically benefit consumers.
(Video Editing: Kim Jong-tae, VJ: Shin So-young)
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[Anchor]
Reporter Jo Yoon-ha, who covered this story, is here with us.
Q. Is displaying the 'cooked' weight of chicken impossible?
[Reporter Jo Yoon-ha: Not necessarily. We also investigated fast-food chains that sell chicken menu items. Lotteria discloses the cooked weight of its chicken on its website, and KFC and Mom's Touch also display cooked weight rather than pre-cooking weight. In fact, these fast-food chains are displaying cooked weights even though they are not subject to the chicken weight labeling system.]
Q. Why is the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety sticking to 'pre-cooking' weight?
[Reporter Jo Yoon-ha: There are largely two reasons. First, as seen earlier, the weight of chicken can vary as much as desired depending on the cooking process and recipe. Second, the ministry worries that if the standard is changed from 'pre-cooking' to 'cooked,' chicken businesses might intentionally avoid trimming chicken fat or apply thicker batter to increase weight. They also argue that when you go to a barbecue restaurant, pork belly is sold by the gram per serving based on pre-cooking weight. However, when you think about it, pork belly allows you to visually check the amount of meat before grilling, whereas chicken makes it virtually impossible to check the amount of raw chicken before cooking. Furthermore, chicken with untrimmed fat or thick batter is highly likely to be shunned by consumers through market logic alone. So while displaying pre-cooking weight is certainly better than doing nothing, consumers don't eat raw chicken. Therefore, a more practical standard seems necessary.]
(Video Editing: Oh Young-taek)
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