Disguised Black Mushrooms

[Anchor Lead]

Authorities have apprehended a retail firm that disguised black mushrooms imported from China as domestic, to reap profits amounting to hundreds of millions of won. Authorities are urging consumers to exercise extra caution ahead of the lunar New Year holiday, as it's almost impossible to tell Korean mushrooms from Chinese.

[Pkg]

A truck parked at this market in Daejeon is loaded with boxes of black mushrooms imported from China. Moments later, the boxes are discarded empty. The mushrooms that used to be in the boxes have been moved to other boxes. This was mostly done in enclosed spaces on weekends, when officials cracking down on agricultural and fishery products are usually off. This firm sold 41 tons of Chinese mushrooms worth 330 million won by disguising them as domestic. It supplied the mushrooms to eight large supermarkets nationwide. The firm was able to reap significant profits, as domestic black mushrooms are nearly twice as expensive as Chinese mushrooms. The firm capitalized on the fact that it's almost impossible for consumers to tell Chinese mushrooms apart from domestic ones.

[Soundbite] Chung Hee-jung(National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service) : "Domestic black mushrooms feel firm to the touch, whereas Chinese ones are mushy."

Over the past three years, 121 firms were caught for falsely labeling the country of origin of black mushrooms. Consumers are advised to be especially careful when buying mushrooms ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.