▲ General foods illegally advertised as "test-taker supplements" are displayed at the Seoul Regional Food and Drug Administration on the 28th.
Ahead of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), a large number of businesses have been caught for falsely advertising regular foods as nutritional supplements for test-takers.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) announced today (October 28) that it has caught 23 businesses that exploited the anxiety of test-takers and their parents by advertising regular foods as products that help improve learning abilities, and has requested administrative dispositions from local governments while filing complaints with the police.
The ministry added that for businesses that sold over 100 million won worth of products through deceptive advertising, it will provide tax data to the National Tax Service to block tax evasion.
The products sold by the businesses caught for deceptive advertising amount to 24 types and 410,000 boxes, totaling approximately 7.1 billion won.
Lee Je-myung, head of the MFDS Emergency Response Team for Unfair Food Practices, stated during a briefing held at the Seoul Regional Food and Drug Administration today (October 28) that "one of the caught businesses sold about 5.6 billion won worth, accounting for roughly 80% of the total amount."
He went on to explain that "another business made an exorbitant profit reaching 14 times the purchase unit price."
The caught businesses sold regular foods such as sugar processed goods, candies, and jellies while advertising them as having preventive and therapeutic effects on diseases like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or depression.
Cases of promoting products as health functional foods using phrases like "test-taker supplements" and "high school senior supplements" were also confirmed.
False and exaggerated advertisements using phrases like "concentration improvement" and "mental strength enhancement," as well as deceptive advertisements that caused consumers to mistake ingredient efficacy for product efficacy, were also uncovered.
Some businesses induced purchases by using expressions like "Daechi-dong supplements" and "adolescent supplements" in hashtags.
The MFDS emphasized that the products sold by the deceptive advertisers are neither health functional foods nor supplements recognized for their functionality.
Professor Kim Ji-yeon of Seoul National University of Science and Technology stated during the briefing, "Functional ingredients are those recognized to have efficacy or effects based on scientific grounds," adding, "You must simply think that the components of regular foods are merely contained within them."
She also urged that arousal is a state of keeping sleep at bay and does not have the same meaning as enhanced concentration, warning that arousal, enhanced concentration, and memory and learning outcomes should not be linked together.
Professor Kim added that ingredients like tyrosine and L-dopa put forward by some products cannot be considered to enhance concentration in healthy people.
The MFDS reported that guarana extract containing caffeine was found in 10 types among the inspected products.
Excessive consumption of foods containing caffeine-containing ingredients can lead to symptoms such as insomnia, anxiety, and heart palpitations.
The recommended maximum daily caffeine intake for children and adolescents is 2.5 mg per 1 kg of body weight.
It is recommended for a teenager weighing 50 kg to consume up to 125 mg, and 150 mg for 60 kg.
An MFDS official advised that some products contained 100 mg of caffeine per packet, which corresponds to 100% of the maximum recommended daily intake for an adolescent weighing 40 kg.
The official further emphasized that the ministry will strengthen inspections on deceptive advertisements exploiting the earnestness of test-taking students and the worries of parents, and take strict measures against businesses that repeatedly engage in false advertising.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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