Ganghwa County Conducts Special Crackdown on Agricultural Product Origin Labeling Through Next Month 10th Ahead of Lunar New Year

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Ganghwa County announced on the 27th that it will conduct a special crackdown on agricultural product origin labeling through the 10th of next month ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

The crackdown comes as the county anticipates a surge in illegal practices of selling imported agricultural products as domestic (Ganghwa) products, capitalizing on the peak season for Lunar New Year ancestral offering items.

In response, the county will form a joint crackdown team with the Agricultural Products Quality Management Service and conduct inspections targeting agricultural product producers and sellers. The focus will be placed on retail businesses in traditional markets where origin labeling is vulnerable. Target items include fruit for ancestral offerings, wild vegetables, local agricultural products, and holiday specialty gift items.

Violators of origin labeling regulations will face penalties under relevant laws: failure to display or improper display methods will result in fines of up to 10 million won, while false origin labeling or misleading display will result in imprisonment of up to 7 years or fines of up to 100 million won.

A county official stated, "To protect the quality of Ganghwa agricultural products and safeguard the interests of hardworking Ganghwa farmers and consumers, we plan to rigorously crack down on practices where non-local agricultural products are falsely represented as Ganghwa products," adding, "We will establish a sound agricultural product distribution order and enhance the credibility of Ganghwa agricultural products."