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| Models promote HiteJinro's original Jinro Soju at a supermarket in Seoul, in this 2019 file photo. Korea Times file |
By Kim Jae-heun
HiteJinro, a major soju and beer producer, was found to have replaced labels on its soju bottles to mislead consumers, according to industry officials, Wednesday.
Bottles of its Jinro Soju brand, with an average alcohol content of 16.5 percent, were found to bear labels claiming they were its Zero Sugar brand, which is newer and more popular, with an alcohol content of 16 percent at a restaurant outside of Seoul. The two products don't share many of the same ingredients.
Unlike the original brand which contains fructose, the sugar-free version offers artificial sweeteners to target consumers who wish to avoid sugar.
The act of attaching a false label violates Article 8 of the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Food. Those who break the law can be sentenced to up to five years in prison or fined up to 50 million won ($38,971).
HiteJinro said the mislabeling was a mistake made by part-time sales personnel, who replaced only the front labels and left the back labels on ― so that the information on ingredients is unchanged.
"We intended to change the labels only for sugar-free products as the previous one showed the 'Zero Sugar' phrase too small on the front label," a HiteJinro official said. "Our sales personnel didn't do it intentionally. It was a mistake."
However, an official at another local brewer said HiteJinro could have changed the label with an aim to promote its new sugar-free products more quickly.
"I think as Lotte Chilsung Beverage's sugar-free Saero 257 soju gained popularity fast among young consumers, HiteJinro rushed to release its sugar-free soju," the official said. "It probably wanted to promote its new product as soon as possible and decided to replace the original Jinro labels with the Zero Sugar ones."
