Yangsu Lee ‘We need to crack down on items with repeated violations’

Yangsoo Lee "We need to crack down on items with repeated violations"

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jeonghyeon Lee = In the crackdown on country of origin labeling ahead of holidays such as Chuseok, it was found that kimchi and pork had the most violations.

According to data submitted by Rep. Lee Yang-soo (People Power Party), a member of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee, from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on the 26th, more than 3,700 companies were caught in special crackdowns on country of origin labeling for holidays, which were conducted a total of 9 times (5 Lunar New Year and 4 Chuseok) from 2022 to this year.

By violation type, there were 2,049 ‘false indications’ and 1,663 ‘unmarked’ locations.

A total of 4,375 violations by item were recorded over the past five years.

Cabbage kimchi was the most common with 951 items, followed by pork with 922 items. The number of violations for the two items combined is 1,873, or 42.8% of the total.

By type of violation, 753 out of 951 cases of cabbage kimchi violation of country of origin labeling, and 582 out of 922 cases of pork were ‘false labeling’.

Of the 1,873 violations of the two products, 1,335 were false labeling cases, or 71.3%.

This year, 241 cases of violation of country of origin labeling were detected in two items, including 150 cases of cabbage kimchi and 91 cases of pork, of which 170 cases (70.5%) were false labels.

Rep. Lee said, “False labeling of the country of origin during the holiday season distorts consumer choice and causes damage to farmers and merchants who produce and sell honestly,” and emphasized, “This Chuseok special crackdown should also be carried out carefully focusing on major items with repeated violations, such as cabbage kimchi and pork.”