Screen golf venues caught selling food without registration

Three indoor leisure facilities — including screen golf and screen baseball venues — have been caught preparing and selling food without the required registration, following a targeted hygiene inspection by Daejeon's special judicial police.

The city of Daejeon announced the findings Monday as part of its "summer food hygiene blind-spot investigation."

The operation, which ran from July, focused on indoor leisure facilities such as screen golf and screen baseball venues in major commercial districts including Dunsan and Yuseong. Special judicial police gathered advance intelligence, conducted field inquiries and carried out monitoring to identify businesses suspected of having weak hygiene management.

All three venues were found to have been preparing and selling food to customers without registering with their district office. By operating without registration, the businesses bypassed basic legal requirements — including hygiene facility standards, regular health checkups for staff and mandatory food safety training — leaving them in a hygiene blind spot with a significant risk of food poisoning.

The special judicial police have booked all three operators on charges of violating the Food Sanitation Act and plan to refer the cases to prosecutors upon completing the investigation. Under the act, unregistered food operations can be punished by up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won ($21,700).

"This investigation focused on proactively identifying and addressing hidden hygiene blind spots in indoor leisure spaces that residents use frequently," a Daejeon city official said. "We will continue to improve investigative efficiency through systematic intelligence gathering, while combining strict judicial action with industry-specific guidance and outreach to prevent repeat violations and establish a proper business culture."