A couple of days old, but apparently a Homever store in Incheon has been caught for allegedly labeling US beef as Australian.
A raid on a Homever outlet located in southern Incheon revealed Saeachim, one of the contractors there, was selling U.S. beef displayed as Australian, the national Agricultural Products Quality Management Service (NAQS) said.
The agency seized some 54 kilograms of marinated meat for bulgogi, a Korean-style barbeque dish, from the store and is now investigating the case.
An employee of Saeachim company thawed some 10 kilograms of beef from storage to marinate on Saturday night, then attached barcodes saying “Australian” before putting it on display, according to the investigation.
As for the Homever’s side of the story.
Homever denied linking the incident to the retailer itself, saying the contractor was running meat booths in 11 Homever stores but is only a rent payer for the space, not an affiliate of the retailer.
No malicious intention was found, the hypermarket company said.
“They told us it was a mistake and they didn’t have time to correct the barcodes because of the abrupt raid on the booth,” a Homever spokesman said on condition of anonymity. “No other case like this was found in its other booths. We don’t understand how it happened either.”
For those who are wondering where the beef came from;
The meat in question was imported before Seoul banned U.S. beef in October last year, according to the NAQS. About 2.6 kilograms of it were sold Sunday, when NAQS officers and reporters from MBC made an unexpected visit to the store.
Hmmm…. wonder who tipped them off?
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Homever denied linking the incident to the retailer itself, saying the contractor was running meat booths in 11 Homever stores but is only a rent payer for the space, not an affiliate of the retailer.
And that, my friends, is how you try to pass a buck in Korea. Keep in mind that the same relationship holds true in department stores as well, so you can expect management there to tap dance in a similar fashion.
Incidentally, despite the fact that businesses contract for use of floor space in department stores and hypermarkets in Korea, lessors nonetheless inspect these businesses to insure that they maintain safety and quality standards, and in some cases (Lotte, for example) will even disallow employees from working on the premises if they deem standards are not being met.
It is surprising how the employee could have mistakenly thawed out the US beef Saturday night, set it to marinate overnight, and then somehow yellow-journalism MBC and government inspectors somehow got wind of the fact that mislabeled US beef would have gone on sale in time to show up Sunday, the very next day (at the now foreign-owned Homever, too). In fact, it beggars the imagination.
Brendon: I don’t think Homeover is foreign-owned yet, or MBC would have made some kimchi with that fact; it used to be Carrefour, but is now owned by E-Land. I wouldn’t imagine that Tesco’s announced acquisition will close for a bit longer. You may know betterthan I, though, at this point.
Hmmm…. wonder who tipped them off?
*sheepishly puts hand up*
“The meat in question was imported before Seoul banned U.S. beef in October last year.”
That’s just plain gross. That beef has been in a freezer for nearly a year.
I really wonder how they were tipped off. I mean, it’s not as if people could ever tell a difference between marinaded American and Australian beef… nor did that have time to go home and cook it.
hahaha..american beef as australian..wtf cares?
Brendon: I don’t think Homeover is foreign-owned yet, or MBC would have made some kimchi with that fact
The only one making some kimchi here is Brendon Carr whose conspiracy theory overlooks a certain conflict of interest.
The agency seized some 54 kilograms of marinated meat for bulgogi, a Korean-style barbeque dish, from the store and is now investigating the case.
Jeez, with that kind of language one might think they were busting some Engrish teachers for possession of ganja.
What better way to show the mad cow protestors up than to demonstrate that not only does the ROK government have enforceable laws to stop the mislabeling of beef, but that they have psychic cops ready to swoop in and crack down on such an incident. Either that, or there was a disgruntled employee…. I like the sinister government conspiracy theory myself, though.
With US beef still on the front pages, maybe this year importers of Chinese seafood will get a break from the annual summer ritual of Korean inspectors, accompanied by news cameramen, wrenching open wooden crates to reveal lead-pellet tainted blue crabs or whatever seafood species is the villain of the season.
As I commented a few months ago, this is rampant, particularity the case in which Australian beef is sold as Hanwoo. They net weight of Hanwoo sold at supermarkets is higher than can be accounted for by the number of actual Hanwoo slaughtered.
Oh my god! Whoever eats that 2.6kg of American beef will catch mad cow and DIE! I am so sad!
CaptBBQ,
If I`m not mistaken, the WTO ruled that Korea cannot sell imported beef seperately from domestic beef (I`m sure you can find the details of that ruling with a quick search). Actually doing things by the book would prevent this sort of thing…but then Korean beef couldn`t be sold at inflated prices. If that sort of swindle happens, then who`s fault is it…
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