Korea to crack down on mislabeled meat during summer holiday season

South Korea's National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service will launch a special crackdown on country-of-origin mislabeling of livestock products during the summer holiday season, focusing on goat and duck meat — two categories that have seen a sharp rise in imports — being passed off as domestic products.

The agency announced Tuesday that it will conduct intensive inspections of livestock retailers, meat processing and manufacturing facilities, and restaurants and butcher shops near popular vacation destinations nationwide from Wednesday through July 31.

The crackdown will focus on samgyeopsal and chicken — both in high demand during the holiday season — as well as goat and duck meat, whose imports have surged in recent years. Imports of Australian goat meat rose 5.8-fold from 1,849 metric tons in 2021 to 10,760 metric tons in 2025, while imports of Chinese smoked duck tripled over the same period, climbing from 4,911 metric tons to 14,945 metric tons.

Inspectors will target businesses that sell foreign meat as domestic product, display misleading origin labels, or pass off beef from dairy or commercial cattle as Korean native beef, known as hanwoo. Authorities will also check for missing origin labels and failure to retain transaction records.

Ahead of the on-site inspections, the agency will deploy 450 cyber-monitoring officers nationwide to track listings on online shopping platforms, home shopping channels and online food delivery apps. Field inspectors will use origin-identification test kits capable of distinguishing domestic from imported pork and hanwoo from non-hanwoo beef.

Falsifying a country-of-origin label carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison or a fine of up to 100 million won ($66,400). Failing to display an origin label is subject to an administrative fine of up to 10 million won.

"Livestock consumption rises during the holiday season, which means origin-labeling violations are also more likely to increase," agency chief Kim Cheol said. "We will strengthen origin-label management so the public can buy livestock products with confidence."