(Jeju=Yonhap News) Reporter Go Seong-sik = A restaurant in Jeju has been caught selling pork belly from Portugal as Jeju-produced suyuk (raw sliced beef) over the past 2-3 years.
The Jeju branch of the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service announced on the 25th that it conducted a joint crackdown on the illegal distribution of livestock products targeting tourist sites and famous restaurants in the area from the 14th of last month to the 14th of this month, catching a total of 17 restaurants that falsely labeled the origin and currently investigating them.
Among them, Restaurant A falsely labeled 2,251.56 kg of Portuguese pork belly (violating amount of 234 million won) as Jeju-produced and sold it as suyuk, etc.
Restaurant B falsely labeled 1,933.6 kg of American beef short ribs (violating amount of approximately 218 million won) as domestic beef and cooked and sold it as potato soup, etc.
There were also restaurants that falsely labeled the origin of both beef and pork.
The Jeju branch plans to submit these businesses to the prosecution.
The Jeju branch also caught 13 businesses that failed to label the origin or violated labeling methods, and livestock distribution companies that violated livestock traceability labeling, imposing a fine of 6.8 million won.
Among the illegally distributed items caught in this crackdown, pork was the most common with 12 cases (32.4%), followed by beef with 8 cases (21.6%), duck meat with 2 cases (5.4%), and chicken and black goat meat each with 1 case (5.4%).
The Jeju branch is intensifying monitoring on SNS and conducting focused crackdowns due to the increase in meat demand during the summer vacation season and the rise in online communication sales through restaurant delivery apps.
So far this year, 52 businesses have been caught in Jeju for illegal distribution, with 48 cases of false origin labeling and 4 cases of livestock traceability labeling violations.
This is a 52.9% increase compared to the 34 cases caught during the same period last year.
If the origin labeling of agricultural and livestock products is missing or suspected of violating origin labeling, it can be reported to the Illegal Distribution Reporting Center (☎1588-8112).
koss@yna.co.kr