Pulmuone faces boycott after mass food poisoning
Seen is Chocolate Blossom Cake suspected of being the cause of mass food poisoning of over 2,000 students and staff nationwide. The cake was manufactured by W1F&B and distributed by Pulmuone Foodmerce. / Courtesy of Ministry of Food and Drug Safety
Pulmuone CEO Lee Hyo-yul
By Park Jae-hyuk
Pulmuone is facing a consumer boycott, as thousands of students nationwide have exhibited symptoms of food poisoning since Friday, after consuming salmonella-infected chocolate cake that its subsidiary distributed, according to industry officials, Sunday.
The recent incident is regarded as the most serious crisis Pulmuone CEO Lee Hyo-yul has faced since his January inauguration, when Pulmuone Chairman Nam Seung-woo handed over management rights to him.
Given the food firm has attracted consumers with its reputation as a supplier of “wholesome foods,” the chief executive will likely struggle to recover the tarnished image of his company.
Some shareholders even fear that Pulmuone may follow the example of CJ, which stopped catering to schools in 2006, when over 3,000 students from 31 schools in the Seoul metropolitan area suffered from food poisoning after eating foods that CJ Food System had supplied.
Pulmuone Foodmerce, a food distribution arm of Pulmuone, is currently known as one of the nation's four largest suppliers of foods to schools.
It supplies food to 189 facilities nationwide, including kindergartens, daycare centers and 169 schools.
According to local governments and education offices, over 2,000 students and staff from facilities in six provinces and three metropolitan cities have suffered symptoms of food poisoning since they ate Chocolate Blossom Cake that a small cake making company named W1F&B supplied to Pulmuone Foodmerce.
The nation's health authorities banned sales and distribution of the chocolate cake, as they regard it as the cause of the epidemic.
On the day when the outbreak was reported, Pulmuone and Pulmuone Foodmerce uploaded an apology written by Pulmuone Foodmerce CEO Yoo Sang-seok on their official websites.
“We apologize for evoking public criticism and worrying you,” he said in the statement. “We will enhance the supervision of our subcontractors and will do our best to offer safer products through strict hygiene control.”
Despite his apology, a growing number of consumers say they cannot trust Pulmuone's foods anymore, criticizing the company for selling “rotten foods.”
In case the consumers have children who go to kindergartens or daycare centers, they worry more about the recent incident.
“My children go to a daycare center supplied with Pulmuone's foods, and I am concerned about food safety,” a mother wrote online. “I heard other daycare centers have already signed contracts with other food distributors.”
Considering the increasing number of patients over the weekend, shareholders expect Pulmuone's stock price will go down further today.
Its stock closed at 117,000 won ($103.80) on Friday, down 0.85 percent from the previous session. Pulmuone Foodmerce is not listed on the stock market.
Pulmuone has a connection with the ruling party, because Rep. Won Hye-young of the Democratic Party of Korea founded the company in the early 1980s. The lawmaker, however, no longer holds any company shares, as he donated his shares to a scholarship foundation in 1996.