Even Pre-Cooking Weight Labels Vary... 'Chicken Weight Labeling System' Proves Ineffective

[Anchor]

We previously reported that although the government introduced the chicken weight labeling system, it requires displaying the raw chicken weight before cooking rather than the cooked chicken weight, offering little help to consumers. It has now been found that even these pre-cooking weight labels vary inconsistently.

Reporter Jo Yoon-ha has the story.

[Reporter]

We checked the menus of all top 10 franchise chicken brands subject to the chicken weight labeling system.

Even for boneless chicken, some brands display the weight while others do not.

Brand A, for instance, failed to display the weight for 14 out of its 15 boneless chicken menus.

The chicken weight labeling system was introduced to prevent situations like last year, when Kyochon Chicken reduced the portion size of its boneless chicken while keeping the price the same. However, consumers still remain in the dark about the portion sizes of boneless chicken at certain brands.

When we asked Brand A why it did not display the weight, the company replied that it received guidance from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety stating that its boneless chicken does not fall under the weight labeling requirement.

How is it different from the boneless chicken of other brands?

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's manual states that "weight labeling can be exempted for chicken nuggets or popcorn chicken."

These are products supplied to stores in processed meat forms, with the batter already applied at the headquarters factory.

Boneless chicken is omitted from this list.

However, Brand A claims that because its boneless chicken comes with the batter already applied from the headquarters factory rather than being battered at the store, it qualifies for the weight labeling exemption just like popcorn chicken.

An exception rule intended to be applied restrictively to side menus like popcorn chicken is now being applied even to flagship boneless chicken menus.

From a consumer's perspective, there is no way of knowing whether the batter on the boneless chicken was applied at the headquarters factory or at the store.

Because consumers can check the weight of some boneless chicken while they cannot for others, critics are calling it a "half-baked weight labeling system."

[Interview / Lee Jung-soo, Secretary General, Korea National Council of Consumer Organizations: Whether it is intentionally omitted or accidentally left out, consumers cannot know, so providing the weight of the final product received by the consumer is the best approach...]

As our reporting began, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety stated, "Since this is a system for consumers' right to know, we have guided Brand A to display the weight for boneless chicken as well."

(Video Editing: Kim Jong-tae, Design: Seo Seung-hyun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.