By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
One of the nation's largest food makers fraudulently altered the shelf life of its imported chocolate products.
The Korean Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that Orion sold overdue products of Hershey's chocolate.
``We've found that Orion changed the shelf life of 13,838 boxes of Hershey's Miniature Special Dark, which it imported from the U.S.-based Hershey's Company. We ordered the firm to recall the products,'' an official of the food agency said.
According to the official, Orion imported 26,880 boxes of the chocolate between last September and January. Among them, 13,838 boxes were left unsold, and the firm ordered its packing subcontractor to put a false shelf life on them, extending the dates for up to 104 days.
The fabricated products worth 622 million won ($6,000) have been on the market since March. The authority caught the mass manipulation while investigating a consumer report last month that a worm had been found in the chocolate product.
``The worm was in one of the overdue products. We are examining whether it was put in the product during production process or during imports,'' the official said.
He said the authority presumes most of the products have been sold and only about 1,000 boxes would be recalled.
The authority ordered Orion to suspend food imports and will file a complaint with police against the firm for the violation of food sanitation law.
Orion said it was a mistake, not an intentional fabrication.
``There was a mistake putting date stickers on the products as the subcontractor confused production dates with imports dates. We are recalling all the products in question, and will destroy them,'' the company said on its Web site.
``We apologize to customers. We will strengthen supervision on subcontractors and try to prevent such a mistake from recurring,'' it said.