A recent court ruling in Busan dismissed charges against a restaurant owner for repackaging food orders that a customer did not eat.

Food
Image source – Joongang Daily

Earlier this month, Judge Shin Hyung-chul from the Busan district court acquitted the owner of a restaurant. Said business owner, now referred to as “A,” was put on trial for allegedly violating the Food and Hygiene Act.

The case was first submitted In late April after evidence found that the owner re-packaged uneaten plates of fried rice. More, in a video, that prosecutor provided shows that “A” produced two plates of fried rice after picking up dishes from an earlier delivery.

In South Korea, some foods are delivered using dinnerware and are picked up after a certain amount of time. However, “recycling of food” is a violation of the Food and Hygiene Act. As such, the prosecutors brought charges against “A.”

In response, the owner denied the charges and claimed that he had not violated the law. Further, after reviewing the evidence, the judge said that it was hard to determine if the plate that had been picked up has been eaten by the customer.

korean delivery
Korean food delivered to a customer – Youtube @tyhipstar

According to the video, the plate still had the customary plastic wrap around it with some of the outer package torn off. The ambiguity surrounding this was enough to tilt the trial in favor of the owner.

Judge Shin said that the “plate was not left over by the customer” since they “did not open the package”. Moreover, the added that the damage to the package could have occurred during transport rather than by the customer.

As such, he said it was difficult to conclude that the dish had been eaten by the customer and thereby be classified as used food.

 

 

Original article

Translated by O.C

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