The Seoul Metropolitan Government caught a series of restaurants for false or misleading country-of-origin labeling after intensively inspecting establishments handling goat and duck meat to meet rising summer demand for health foods.
The city's Civil Affairs Judicial Police Bureau said Tuesday that it inspected 132 restaurants and meat retailers selling health foods such as goat and duck meat from June 15 to July 3, catching 10 establishments in violation of the Country of Origin Labeling Act.
The crackdown follows a sharp rise in demand for goat meat as an alternative health food, as the distribution and sale of dog meat will be fully banned starting February 2027. Domestic goat meat consumption rose about 97 percent from 6,600 tons in 2021 to 13,000 tons in 2024, while imports over the same period more than tripled from 1,883 tons to 8,143 tons.
By violation type, four establishments were caught for misleading origin labeling, one for false labeling, and five for no labeling. Some establishments displayed "100% domestic black goat" on the outside while actually mixing in Australian meat, or used only imported meat contrary to their labeling. Other cases involved selling menu items containing imported meat without any origin labeling, or falsely labeling Chinese napa cabbage kimchi as domestic.
For this inspection, the city collaborated with the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service (NAQS), jointly conducting the entire process from information gathering to on-site enforcement, and also carried out genetic testing of goat meat through the Institute of Public Health and Environment. All 21 samples tested were confirmed to be traditional black goats raised domestically.
The city plans to refer the five establishments that engaged in false or misleading origin labeling to prosecutors after investigation, and to impose fines on the five that failed to label origins. False or misleading origin labeling carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison or a fine of up to 100 million won, while failure to label is subject to a fine of up to 10 million won.
The city is actively encouraging citizen tips to eradicate illegal activity. Informants who provide decisive evidence are eligible for a reward of up to 200 million won under the relevant ordinance.
"While most establishments label origins correctly, some illegal activity is still occurring," said Byun Kyung-ok, head of the Seoul Civil Affairs Judicial Police Bureau. "Citizens should carefully check origins and actively report suspicious cases."
