Home shopping channels in trouble for selling 'rotten' kimchi
Hansung Food Founder Kim Soon-ja holds food ingredients for kimchi at the company's headquarters in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, in this 2021 file photo. Courtesy of Hansung Food
By Kim Jae-heun
Three home shopping companies are in the hot seat for promoting and selling “unsanitary” kimchi products manufactured by Hansung Food, drawing protests from angry customers who bought the kimchi, according to industry analysts and consumers, Thursday.
Lotte Home Shopping, NS HomeShopping and Gong Young Shopping have cancelled the online sale of Hansung Food's kimchi after a whistle-blower at the food firm leaked video footage, Tuesday, showing workers using radishes and cabbages with mold on them to make the Korean traditional food.
Home shopping companies explained that kimchi products manufactured at the troubled production facility in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, are either exported to international markets or sold to local food providers. However, customers said that they cannot trust foods made by Hansung Food anymore.
“I've worked at a home shopping company for six years, but I've never received so many complaint calls. Customers are asking for refunds on all Hansung Food kimchi that we sold previously and the situation is chaotic,” an official from one of the three home shopping firms said.
NS HomeShopping has decided to take back all of Hansung Food's Kimchi and refund its customers. It is even contacting those who did not make complaint calls so as to cancel their online orders as well.
E-commerce firms like Gmarket and Auction said they will stop selling Hansung Food's kimchi.
“I did not purchase the product, but I saw Lotte Home Shopping selling it few days ago. Hansung Food's kimchi is well-known for its great taste and I thought of buying it once, but after watching the news which showed that they use spoiled food, I never want it anymore,” 58-year-old housewife Kong said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety sent four investigators to Hansung Food's manufacturing facility to look into the case on Wednesday.
The food firm operates four factories and the controversial facility is run by Hansung Food's affiliate Hyowon. Hansung Food posted an official statement apologizing for the controversy on Wednesday and said it will close down its Jinchoen factory immediately.
“All food materials that are either rotting or inedible are discarded during the process of making kimchi. Nonetheless, we have decided to shut down our facility in Jincheon and we will conduct our own internal investigation on the matter. We apologize for the trouble and we promise to prevent such an incident from happening again,” a spokesperson from Hansung Food said in a statement.