South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) is launching an intensive inspection to ensure the safety management of livestock products such as pork belly and sausages, whose consumption rises during the summer vacation season.
The MFDS said Thursday that it will inspect a total of 1,060 establishments through July 17, in cooperation with 17 local governments. The targets include companies that manufacture and sell products such as pork belly and sausages, as well as small-scale livestock producers with recent records of non-compliance.
The inspection focuses on whether businesses use or store products or ingredients past their consumption deadline, handle livestock products hygienically, comply with refrigeration and freezing temperatures, and properly conduct self-quality testing. To strengthen cold-chain safety management of distributed livestock products, the MFDS will also examine whether transport vehicles entering logistics centers and slaughterhouses comply with refrigeration and freezing temperatures and hygiene management.
The ministry will collect about 450 products, including ice cream sold at unmanned stores, where consumer use is increasing, as well as yogurt, ground meat, and ham and sausages distributed and sold online, to test them for foodborne bacteria and compliance with residue standards for veterinary drugs. The MFDS plans to take strict action, including swiftly recalling and disposing of non-compliant products and imposing administrative penalties on violating businesses. Last year, the MFDS inspected 4,074 small-scale livestock producers and caught 41 that violated the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act and other regulations.
The inspection is not unrelated to the trend of bacterial food poisoning being concentrated in summer, when temperatures and humidity rise. According to the "2024 Food Poisoning Status" released by the MFDS, 265 cases of food poisoning occurred last year, affecting 7,624 patients. Of these, food poisoning that occurred between July and September accounted for 39% of all cases and 50% of patients. In particular, over the past five years (2020-2024), salmonella poisoning was the most common type of bacterial food poisoning in summer (June to August), with an annual average of 20 cases. Salmonella and pathogenic E. coli easily multiply during the handling of meat and eggs, making temperature control at the manufacturing and distribution stages of livestock products a key factor in preventing food poisoning.
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