Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling for Delivery Food...False Labeling Punishable by Up to 7 Years Imprisonment

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun Reporter] Starting July 1, Gyeonggi Province will implement guidance and inspection initiatives for country-of-origin labeling as the mandatory labeling of delivery food ordered by phone and other means takes effect. Currently, delivery food ordered by phone and other means are not required to display country-of-origin labels on packaging.

Gyeonggi Province explained that, according to the amended Enforcement Rules of the Country-of-Origin Labeling Act revised in September of last year, delivery food ordered by phone must display country-of-origin information on packaging starting July 1. If difficult to display on packaging, labeling on pamphlets, stickers, or receipts is also possible.

Accordingly, the province plans to conduct agricultural, livestock, and aquatic product origin guidance and inspections starting July, examining not only general restaurants' packaging materials but also pamphlets, stickers, and receipts to verify country-of-origin labeling for delivery food.

The country-of-origin labeling targets consist of 24 items in total*: three agricultural products including rice, beans, and kimchi made from Chinese cabbage; six livestock products including beef, pork, and chicken; and fifteen aquatic products including flounder, octopus, and pollack.

False labeling of the country-of-origin for applicable items results in up to 7 years imprisonment or fines up to 100 million won, while failure to label or violation of labeling methods results in administrative fines up to 10 million won.

Lee Hae-won, Director of the Agricultural Products Distribution Division at Gyeonggi Province, stated, "When ordering delivery food, consumers should verify country-of-origin labeling, and when receiving products, they should carefully check whether packaging, stickers, or receipts display the country-of-origin to minimize damage." He added, "To prevent cases of administrative disadvantages resulting from strengthened country-of-origin labeling requirements, we will conduct active guidance, inspections, and promotional activities for businesses."

Previously, in April, the province utilized 126 country-of-origin labeling monitors to conduct country-of-origin labeling guidance, inspections, and promotional activities targeting 7,361 remote sales businesses that receive and deliver agricultural, livestock, and aquatic products and food orders through the internet and delivery applications.

*[Agricultural Products 3] Rice (rice, rice porridge, crispy rice), beans (tofu products, okara, bean noodle soup), kimchi made from Chinese cabbage (Chinese cabbage, red chili powder)
[Livestock Products 6] Beef, pork, chicken, duck, lamb, goat (including dairy goat) meat (including fresh meat, packaged meat, and processed meat products)
[Aquatic Products 15] Flounder, rockfish, red seabream, mudfish, eel, octopus, pollack (excluding dried), mackerel, cutlassfish, squid, blue crab, yellow croaker, tuna, monkfish, and cuttlefish