By Kang Seung-woo
Buffet restaurants will be strictly banned from reusing leftover food even if the food was only displayed and was not taken by customers, the nation's food regulator said, Tuesday.
But they will be allowed to reuse some leftover food that will not cause hygiene-related problems, such as raw vegetables, unpeeled fruit and even kimchi.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety plans to roll out sanitation guidelines for buffet and other restaurants by the end of this month, outlining what can be reused and what cannot.
The instruction comes after a Todai Korea store in Pyeongchon, Gyeonggi Province, was found, in August, to have reused leftover sushi to make rolls and fried dishes. Controversy rose at the time because reusing displayed food was not illegal.
According to the new guideline, restaurant operators cannot reuse the food which customers did not finish as well as food that has been displayed. It also bans the reuse of food that is seasoned or peeled.
Leftover raw fish, sushi and gimbap and sliced fruit still cannot be reused, while cakes, cream-stuffed breads and fried dishes that are exposed to the air for many hours will be prohibited from being reused.
Those violating the rule can face up to a 15-day suspension of operations, up to three years in prison or a maximum 30 million won ($27,000) fine, according to the Food Sanitation Act.
The new guideline says vegetables and fruit that are unseasoned or uncooked will be reusable if they undergo an extra washing process. Fruit such as bananas, tangerines and lychees and nuts including peanuts and chestnuts can also be used again if they have not been peeled.
Those that can be reused also include dried processed food such as canned nuts, cookies, chocolate and bread; and kimchi and rice that are served in containers with lids and touched by customers with tongs.
Also, the ministry has ordered buffet restaurant operators to leave at least 20 centimeters of space between foods on display to prevent cross-contamination and dispose of food that is displayed for more than two hours.