Recently, the large corporate affiliated meal service providers have not viewed Pulmuone Group positively. This is because they believe they can relatively easily pass through situations of mass food poisoning. This reflects comments made in comparison to the criticisms faced by a large corporate affiliate that caused a similar problem in the past.
According to the industry on the 18th, Pulmuone's affiliate Foodmus has distributed and sold 'PulKitchen high-calcium strawberry cream roll cake' and 'high-calcium local wheat choco-banana bread' to nationwide mass meal service locations, causing mass food poisoning symptoms in over 200 students. The meal service industry compares this incident to the large-scale food poisoning cases that occurred in 2006 and 2018.
Foodmus had previously caused a similar issue in 2018. At that time, the issue was with the 'local wheat chocoblossom cake' distributed by Foodmus. Salmonella was detected in this product, leading to over 2,000 students showing symptoms of food poisoning.
The scale of this damage has been assessed as being comparable to the large-scale food poisoning incident that occurred in 2006. The meal service provider responsible for the 2006 mass food poisoning incident was CJ Food System, the predecessor of CJ Freshway. At that time, the outbreak led to a halt in meal services and school dismissals as meals could not be supplied. CJ announced that they would withdraw from the school meal business and concluded to donate the already invested amount in facilities.
An official from the meal service industry noted, 'It hasn’t been long since 2018, yet there are not many people who remember that the cake supplied by Foodmus was the problem.' They added, 'In contrast, CJ fully withdrew from that business. There is a clear disparity in that large companies must face considerable criticism when causing similar incidents, while mid-sized companies face less.' This means that unlike CJ Food System in 2006, Pulmuone Group passed through the food poisoning incident in 2018 without significant damage to its meal service business. In the prosecutor's indictment, Pulmuone Foodmus received a final ruling of no charges due to the absence of knowledge regarding the possibility of food poisoning during distribution.
It wasn't only CJ Group among large enterprises that had to withdraw from the meal service business. After the 2006 incident, the government passed an amendment to the school meal law aimed at strengthening hygiene in school meals to prevent mass food poisoning incidents, fundamentally requiring direct management of school meals. Other large corporate affiliates consequently found themselves in a situation where they had to exclude the school meal business from their operating domains.
There is another reason why other meal companies do not view Pulmuone positively. Following school meals, public institution cafeterias became an issue. Since 2012, large corporate affiliated meal service providers have been increasingly excluded from operating public institution cafeterias. This change arose from a growing societal perception that it is not a business area for large corporations.
An official from a large meal service company stated, 'While regulations that bind us from bidding continue to emerge, smaller companies relative to Pulmuone and Dongwon Group have benefited. It seems that society continues to view Pulmuone in the context of being a small to mid-sized company, overlooking the company's growth over the years.' Pulmuone's consolidated revenue last year reached 3.2137 trillion won, marking its entry into the 3 trillion won club for the first time.
Despite the conflicts surrounding the opening of military meal service operations this year, the gaze towards Pulmuone Group remains skewed.
The regulations have changed to allow large corporations to participate in military meal services, but large corporate affiliates seem to be merely salivating at the prospect. They are calling for relaxed bidding conditions, asserting that they need to raise meal costs to ensure balanced diets for soldiers.
However, the stance of Pulmuone Food and Culture, currently ranked first in the military meal market share, is somewhat different. They maintain a conciliatory position, stating that 'it is sufficiently operable under current conditions.' This company operates meals across all military branches, starting with the Army Sergeant School. As Pulmuone Food and Culture's voice differs slightly, the stance of large corporate meal affiliates feels somewhat uncomfortable.
An official from the meal service industry remarked, 'Pulmuone Food and Culture, with extensive experience in military meal contracts, is in a favorable situation.' They added, 'It is not easy to operate just because we are a large corporate affiliate.' Voices of dissatisfaction towards Pulmuone Group are surfacing amid the mass food poisoning incident.
Meanwhile, regarding this food poisoning incident, Pulmuone has expressed its commitment to take responsibility.
A representative from Pulmuone stated, 'Regardless of the scale or status of the corporation, food safety is a matter that all food corporations must prioritize.' They noted that for the two problematic bread products, they voluntarily halted supply and completed recall and disposal measures back in May. They are currently conducting multifaceted investigations to determine the exact cause. Furthermore, they emphasized that to prevent possible accidents such as cross-contamination, they proactively halted deliveries of eight other products from their suppliers.