106 Businesses Caught Violating Livestock Origin Rules During Peak Vacation Season, Pork Most Common

Authorities have cracked down on 106 businesses for selling foreign livestock products disguised as domestic ones or failing to label their country of origin ahead of the summer vacation season.

The National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service (NAQS) announced on August 9 that it caught 119 violations across 106 businesses following a concentrated crackdown on livestock origin labeling from July 15 to 31.

By item, pork violations were the most common at 82 cases, followed by beef with 15 cases, chicken with 12 cases, duck meat with 7 cases, goat meat with 2 cases, and lamb with 1 case.

By business type, general restaurants accounted for the largest share with 66 locations, followed by 20 meat shops, 3 meat processing plants, and 2 each for processing/manufacturing and meat distribution businesses.

Among the caught businesses, 53 that falsely labeled the origin of foreign livestock products as domestic or otherwise were booked for criminal investigation.

Fines totaling 12 million won were imposed on the 53 businesses that failed to label the origin entirely.

Previously, the NAQS focused its inspections on practices such as selling foreign livestock as domestic, selling products with obscured or disguised origins, and failing to mark the country of origin.

The targets of the crackdown included livestock retailers, meat manufacturing and processing plants, restaurants and butcher-style eateries near popular resort and tourist spots, online shopping malls, and delivery apps.

Kim Chul, head of the NAQS, said, "We plan to continuously monitor whether the origin of livestock products is properly labeled as imports and consumption increase," adding, "In September, we will conduct a focused inspection on the illegal distribution of agricultural and food products for Chuseok gifts and ancestral rites."
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.