Sales of the “Chungju Waxy Corn Burger” Were Halted—The Threshold Was 3 Reports

'Chungju Waxy Corn Burger' sales halted—the threshold was 3 reports

A menu item that sold 100만 units disappeared earlier than scheduled.

This was not because a recall order was issued or investigation findings were released.

The company stopped sales first. What did it see that led it to make that decision?

3-line summary
1. Sales of the corn burger were halted after 3 reports.
2. A menu item that sold 100만 units ended 13 days early.
3. When a regional name is attached, an incident becomes attached to that region, too.

What happened

According to a Newsis report, McDonald’s Korea stopped selling the “Chungju Waxy Corn Cheese Croquette Burger” on the night of July 30.

It was introduced on July 9 and had been scheduled to be sold through August 12. It had performed well enough to surpass a cumulative 100만 units in just 2 weeks.

There was one reason for the halt: more than 3 customer reports said they had bitten into stone particles while eating it.

The route by which the material entered is still under investigation. The company said it is working with farms and suppliers to determine the cause, so it cannot currently be concluded where it entered.

“3 reports” is a line drawn by the company

This is the most notable part of the case.

McDonald’s Korea has its own standard of proactively halting sales when 3 or more reports with the same content are received. This is not a number set by law, but one the company determined in advance.

There is a reason to draw such a line ahead of time. If the seriousness of an incident is judged only after it occurs, the product continues to be sold while that judgment is being made. Setting a number in advance eliminates the time spent deliberating.

The number 3 itself does not have a scientific basis. Rather, it is closer to a practical line: 1 case may be a coincidence, while 3 cases are harder to view as coincidental.

Why weren’t stones filtered out?

Food factories generally use two types of equipment to screen out foreign materials.

A metal detector responds to metal, as its name suggests. Because it works by reading changes in a magnetic field, it catches metal fragments, but stones pass through.

An X-ray inspection machine looks at differences in density. Because it assesses shading in black-and-white images, it can detect nonmetallic materials such as glass, bones, plastic, and stones. However, the equipment is expensive, and materials with small density differences remain difficult to detect.

Corn kernels and small stones are similar in both size and color. If the sorting process relies on visual inspection, this is a combination that is easy to miss.

For reference, foreign materials subject to reporting under Korean food regulations include not only glass, plastic, porcelain, and metal measuring 3mm or more, but also soil materials such as stones and sand. This also means stones are a common foreign material.

Selling with a regional name

It is also worth looking at why “Chungju” was in the menu name.

The combination of local and economy is called loconomy. It goes beyond using regional specialties as ingredients and directly puts the region’s name in the product name.

McDonald’s has operated its “Taste of Korea” project since 2021. According to figures compiled by Wikitree, Chungju waxy corn was the sixth ingredient in the project, following Changnyeong garlic, Boseong pork, Jindo green onion, Jinju chili peppers, and Iksan sweet potatoes; a cumulative 3,000만 units were sold, and it purchased more than 1,000t of domestic ingredients. Chungju waxy corn alone accounted for about 25t.

The same source estimated the economic effect from 2021 through 2024 at 617억 원, including 44억 9,000만 원 in farm income.

Convenience stores and hypermarkets are taking the same path. Products foregrounding their places of origin, such as Seongju oriental melon yogurt and Boseong matcha cake, continue to appear.

What carries over with the name

Companies gain a story unavailable elsewhere, while regions gain sales channels and promotion. Up to that point, it benefits both sides.

The issue is the opposite direction. When a product is called not a “corn burger,” but a “Chungju Waxy Corn Burger,” a story about stone particles brings up more than just the company name in related searches.

This is true even before the cause is identified. Borrowing a regional name as a brand means sharing the risk to its reputation as well.

For loconomy to last, management of raw materials and inspection processes must come before the ability to create a story. This is even more so from the perspective of the party lending its name.

What to do when you find a foreign material

If you bite into something, this is the order to follow.

Take photos first. Include the foreign material, product, and packaging together. Once you throw them away, there is no evidence.

Keep the remaining product and foreign material. Leave them as intact as possible, and refrigerate them if they spoil easily.

To report it, call 1399 without an area code. This is the hotline for reporting adulterated or substandard food. Reports can also be submitted through the “Report Substandard Food” section of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s Food Safety Korea website. You can also check its recent recall and sales-suspension list, which is useful for seeing whether you have purchased an affected item at home. It is better to do this separately from notifying the place of purchase.

The company’s decision to stop sales on its own was based on a number set in advance. Without that number, sales would likely have continued for several more days.

When looking at a product with a regional name, it is worth considering one thing as well: whether that name is used only for marketing, or whether it is accompanied by inspection processes.

A borrowed name resonates more loudly when a problem arises than when things go well.

Sources

The above reports were used for the circumstances and figures surrounding the sales halt, and the Practical Law Information source was used for the procedure for reporting foreign materials.