Confusion Reigns Over New Country of Origin Labeling

With the new country-of-origin labeling for beef to take effect across the nation today, an owner of a restaurant specializing in roast beef ribs sighs looking at new signboards on the wall inside his restaurant.

The owner has had to spend 800,000 won (766 U.S. dollars) to replace all seven signboards he had changed days earlier in accordance with the new regulation.

“The government should have provided more detailed guidelines in the first place,” he said. “Its rules only said country of origin labeling must be posted, but lacked detailed clarification. So I thought informing where the meat I use comes from would be okay, such as Korean or Australian beef. But now I find out that I should’ve provided detailed data such as whether the meat is from Korean cattle or beef cattle.”

He complained about the government’s poor preparation for the new system, saying, “If a restaurant switches to another country’s beef as more U.S. beef imports enter the Korean market, then the signboards must be changed again.”

“It seems to me that the government is trying to avoid its supervisory responsibility for country of origin labeling by threatening food businesses to comply with its new rules or face fines of up to tens of millions of won.”

According to the new regulation, those convicted of committing false labeling face up to three years in prison or fines of up to 30 million won (28,700 dollars).

○ Restaurateurs perplexed over tricky notation

Some restaurant owners said they remain puzzled over the exact wording of country of origin labeling. They said it is almost impossible to have all foods containing beef labeled with the country of origin.

An owner of a restaurant selling rice rolls in Seoul said, “It is such a nuisance to indicate the country of origin of beef for dishes containing a small amount of beef. Moreover, it is difficult to figure out where the meat comes from since I often buy at a meat shop. For these reasons, I’ve removed beef rice rolls from my menu.”

There seems to be no government guidelines on the size and form of signboards at eating establishments. Some restaurants have featured expensive and elaborate signboards, while others are using makeshift signs with a magic marker.

An owner of a grilled meat diner in Seoul said, “I just received a notice saying the notification must be easy to see for consumers, but I have no idea from which government document it came from.”

“So I notify customers about the country of origin on a simple paper, but I have no idea if I did it right.”

On this, an Agriculture Ministry official admitted the government’s failure in public relations, saying, “Though we distributed information booklets through volunteers, we admit our failure to deliver specific information on the new system via government notices.”

○ Doubts grow over government monitoring

Many restaurant owners expressed doubt that the new labeling system will raise meat safety and increase beef demand.

This is because it is hard to supervise and crack down on all violations, though related documents such certificates of slaughter inspection are included when beef is provided.

A cook at a Seoul meat restaurant said, “Even a veteran cook will find it hard to tell the country of origin of meat if he looks at the meat itself only. I doubt the government crackdown will work given the small number of inspection agencies and lack of professionals to determine where the meat came from.”

“No matter how hard they strengthen labeling regulations, they will not crack down on seasoning containing processed beef. These monitoring guidelines are nothing short of passing on the government’s duty of thorough quarantine inspection to the private sector.”

Some customers showed a cold response to the labeling rule. One office worker said, “I don’t think the labeling system will work because of the difficulty in distinguishing between beef from the U.S. and Australia. Moreover, displaying the country of origin will not attract consumers because they have lost interest in beef due to the mad cow disease scare.”

neo@donga.com