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SEOUL: South Korean prosecutors raided McDonald’s Seoul office on Tuesday over allegations that undercooked hamburgers sold at its restaurants caused illness among some customers, officials from the Yonhap news agency reported.
Prosecutors and investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office seized documents, including those related to food material management, from the McDonald’s Korea office in Seoul’s Jongno district during the raid, authorities said.
The raid came one year and nine months after nine activist groups filed a complaint with the prosecution against McDonald’s Korea, the hamburger supplier, and government officials on various charges including violation of food safety law and injuries resulting from negligence.
The so-called hamburger scandal dates back to July 2017, when the mother of a 5-year-old girl filed a complaint accusing McDonald’s Korea of being responsible for her son’s incurable kidney disease.
The mother claimed that her daughter was diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome after eating one of her hamburgers served with an undercooked hamburger in July 2016. Following a series of similar complaints, the prosecution launched an investigation into the allegations.
But in February 2018, state prosecutors decided not to press charges against the fast food chain, citing insufficient evidence to back up the allegations. The prosecution only charged three officials from a McDonald’s hamburger supplier with violating hygiene control and food safety regulations.
The prosecution launched a new investigation into the case in January last year after nine civic groups filed a new complaint.
