The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 23rd that it had caught 11 places selling drinks using 'butterfly pea flowers' that cannot be used for food.
Butterfly pea flowers, which are mainly used for ornamental purposes and for color extraction, have not been proven to be safe, so using them as food violates the Food Sanitation Act and the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Food, etc.
These flowers have ingredients that promote uterine contractions and are not known to be particularly recommended for pregnant women.
From the 3rd to the 11th, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety cracked down on 14 food service establishments and manufacturing and processing businesses, and found 11 companies that sold beverages worth 58.36 million won (US$58.36) containing the color extracted from butterfly pea flowers.
This flower, which is often used to dye natural fibers because of its anthocyanin content, changes to pink and purple depending on the pH (hydrogen ion) concentration. no see.
Two of the companies caught manufacture and sell leaching tea with 12 kinds of flowers, including butterfly pea flowers, and prevent diseases such as 'cancer-killing effect', 'thrombotic inhibitory action', 'memory increase', and 'prevention of dementia'.・Sometimes false advertisements were made as if there was a therapeutic effect.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety confiscated and disposed of all products, including leaching tea, stored by the caught companies for sale, and blocked the online sales sites operated by the operators.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said, "We will continue to strengthen crackdowns on manufacturing and selling food from raw materials that cannot be used for food, and false advertising as if food has the effect of treating diseases."
Food safety-related illegal acts can be reported using the Defective Food Reporting Line (☎1399) or the smartphone application 'Food Safety Information in My Hand'.
(Photo = provided by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Yonhap News)