Some convenience stores and unmanned food stores that directly prepare food have been caught by authorities for handling products past their expiration dates or maintaining poor hygiene standards.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced that it inspected 4,531 such stores nationwide and caught 33 for violating the Food Sanitation Act.

The inspection was conducted jointly with local governments for four days starting September 14, with the ministry explaining that the aim was to raise hygiene and safety management standards.

Among 3,275 convenience stores inspected, 14 were caught, with storing and selling products past their expiration dates being the most common violation at 11 locations.

Other violations included failure to wear hairnets or masks, failure to undergo health checkups, and failure to provide covers for waste containers, with one case each.

Among 1,256 unmanned food stores, 19 were found to have poor hygiene conditions.

These included 18 cases of storing and selling products past their expiration dates and one case of portioning and selling packaged foods.

The ministry stated that local governments with jurisdiction will take administrative action against the penalized businesses.

During this inspection, tests for food poisoning bacteria were also conducted on 112 food items such as cooked and sold chicken from convenience stores, and no non-compliant products were found.

Meanwhile, ahead of the kimchi-making season when consumption is expected to increase, the ministry will inspect the hygiene management of simply processed agricultural and fishery product producers from November 2 to 30, jointly with local governments, to ensure the safety of items such as salted napa cabbage and dried anchovies.

The inspection targets 162 agricultural product producers manufacturing items like salted napa cabbage, peeled garlic, and washed onions, as well as 138 fishery product producers selling items such as dried anchovies and raw oysters.

The ministry plans to closely examine the storage conditions of raw materials and final products, the hygiene management of machinery and utensils, and whether workers wear sanitary clothing and hairnets.

Reported by Son Hyeong-an | Video by Lee Eui-seon | Graphics by Lee Soo-min | Produced by SBS Digital News