The Seoul city government announced on the 18th that a sanitation inspection was conducted on 1,985 restaurants selling foods often sought after by residents during the summer, resulting in the discovery of 22 violations.
This inspection identified 15 locations that violated the Food Sanitation Act. Major violations included failure to conduct health checks (1), poor hygiene conditions in the kitchen (1), lack of hygiene caps in the kitchen (5), absence of lids on food waste bins (7), and facility damage (1). Administrative actions were taken against these restaurants, including fines (7 cases), facility improvement orders (7 cases), and revocation of permits (1 case).
Additionally, during the inspection of foods that are sold frequently in the summer, seven restaurants were found to be selling food that exceeded the standards for prepared foods. All of these establishments received 'suspension of operations' orders.
Key violations included excessive Staphylococcus aureus (1 case, mango bingsu), excessive E. coli (4 cases, cold noodles and kongguksu), and excessive bacterial counts (2 cases, edible ice at coffee shops). According to the standards for prepared foods, Staphylococcus aureus should be detected at a level of 100 or less per gram, E. coli at 10 or less per gram, and bacterial counts at 1,000 or less per milliliter. However, these establishments showed levels of Staphylococcus aureus up to three times higher than the standard and E. coli exceeding the standard by 50 times.
This sanitation inspection aims to reduce food poisoning during the summer. According to the Seoul city government, half of the 56 food poisoning cases reported in the last five years during the summer months (June to August), from 2020 to last year, occurred in restaurants (28 cases). The leading causes of food poisoning were pathogenic E. coli (6 cases, 21.4%) and Salmonella (5 cases, 17.9%).
In response, the Seoul city government inspected 733 establishments selling cold noodles, kongguksu, and patbingsu, 668 establishments handling gimbap and toast, and 438 establishments selling health foods such as samgye-tang. Also included in the inspection were 146 restaurants located within accommodations frequented by summer vacationers and those around camping sites and event venues.
Yang Kwang-sook, head of the food policy division at Seoul city, said, 'We will continue to conduct sanitation inspections of restaurants to prevent food poisoning and take strict actions against violations, thereby strengthening food sanitation management.'