The executives and employees of a company that delivered contaminated patties to McDonalds were convicted. This is the result of the prosecution’s investigation and trial after the victims who had suffered from’hemolytic uremic syndrome’ after eating a McDonald’s hamburger came out. The prosecution is re-investigating McDonald’s, which was not handed over to trial in the first place.
This is reporter Oh Hyo-jung.
[기자]
The court cited the fact that the children suffered from intestinal hemorrhagic E. coli and hemolytic uremic syndrome, so-called’hamburger disease’, and said, “The patty supplier’s guilt is heavy.”
They also admitted that the patties were sent out even though the bacteria were detected in the simple kit test.
They didn’t accept the company’s claims, such as “it was negative after retesting” and “it didn’t come out as pathogenic bacteria.
After the bacteria were detected, all products in the line had to be recovered, but the company did not.
They also did not follow the principle that thawed meat should not be frozen again.
The court sentenced CEO Song Mo to three years in prison and four years probation.
I asked the company to pay a fine of 40 million won.
In 2016, a victim who ate a McDonald’s hamburger with this patty had a damaged kidney and is still waiting for a transplant.
[황다연/피해자 측 변호인 : 징역 3년형을 집행유예를 4년을 하는 것 자체가 형량이 굉장히 중한 형을 선고해야 하는 상황인데 너무 과도하게 봐준 거로 보여요.]
We must also revisit whether the vendor McDonald’s is responsible.
In 2018, the prosecution said, “There is not enough evidence,” and McDonald’s did not go to trial.
[황다연/피해자 측 변호인 : 일반 영세한 업체였으면 기소됐을 거예요. 이걸 (판매사를) 불기소한 건 사실 거의 찾아볼 수 없는 사례예요.]
The prosecution, which went into a re-investigation last year, is calling in officials, including former and current employees, to investigate.
At the time, victims also filed a lawsuit for damages claims against the state, saying, “The Food and Drug Administration and local government officials did not take proper measures.”
(Video Design: Yunna Kim)