Employees of a famous galbi franchise in Gyeonggi-do are alleging that the chain sells rotten meat.
Several employees from the franchise conducted interviews with JTBC and revealed that the restaurant takes rotten meat that should be disposed and clean it out using a trick called "washing meat" where rotten meat is washed in soju and mixed with new sauce and served to guests.
Franchise employees revealed, "First off, we wash the meat in soju to remove the bad smell and mix it with new sauce. The firmness of the meat disappears when the meat is left at room temperature for a long time after thawing with warm water."
Kitchen staff revealed, "There's a lot of heat in the kitchen so many packs of meat go bad. As a result, we only let long-time employees grill meat that has been "washed."
BBQ restaurant officials were also asked about the issue and an official A stated, "Oh, that's creepy. You can't sell that. The meat smells sour. Also the meat with be runny with a soup-like disposition."
Another official B stated, "This is something that no cook should ever be involved in or do."
A franchise meat supplier stated, "The minute you add sauce to the meat or let the meat thaw in a warm water, it removes the firmness of the meat. The meat needs to be sold before this happens."
All franchise employees stated that the store manager had told them to sell the rotten meat. When they tried to push back, the manager got angry at them and told them to sell it. The store manager stated, "I gave orders at the time because I didn't think it would be a problem. I feel a lot of pressure to report this to the head office again because of this report."
The franchise admitted to some wrongdoing stating, "it was a mistake at the branch level. The meat should've been disposed of. After we identified the problem, we trained our employees and also replaced our refrigeration equipment."
A local government official stated, "restaurants are inspected once every two years if there are no sanitation or safety issues and the restaurant in question had passed its inspection check."
Meanwhile, even if the restaurant was fined, the penalty only amounts to 300,000 won ($250).
- [+9,182, -40] Reveal the name of the restaurant! This is not a place anyone should be eating at!!
- [+2,757, -92] If you're going to write the article like this then don't do it at all. You need to release the restaurant's name. You're going to kill innocent people like this!
- [+2,562, -89] If you say its "S" bbq in Gyeonggi-do I'm going to f***ing die!
- [+2,040, -92] Yes that's right. I'm 99% sure its "s" bbq. They have the same table and single-use grill board. The parking lot photo also looks similar to the one in Deokjung.
- [+1,906, -109] Songchu-magol?
- [+662, -5] A restaurant like that is only inspected every 2 years? Then do smart students only have to take exams when they feel like it? I know a lot of people only check to whether the restaurant looks decent or if its tagged as a good restaurant but it looks like we'll have to do more work from now on.
- [+548, -11] The employees that exposed it seem to have a conscience.
- [+366, -3] The fine is only 300,000 wonㅋㅋㅋㅋ but if I hit someone I'll get fined 300 million won ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- [+343, -9] Songchu-magol congratulations! I won't be going there anymoreㅋㅋㅋ.
