A missing date on the package and a date recorded by the regulator can both be true. South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) announced on October 16, 2026 that Manje Natural Sea Urchin Sauce (만제 자연산 성게알 소스) was stopped from sale and recalled because the use-by date had not been marked on the affected product. The notice does not say that a pathogen or chemical contaminant was detected. Nor does silence on contamination establish a laboratory finding of safety or negate the instruction to return the item.
Read the recall table, not just the product category
| Original Korean notice field | What MFDS records |
|---|---|
| Product and food category | 만제 자연산 성게알 소스; sauce |
| Repacker and location | 만제영어조합법인 (Manje Yeongeo Cooperative, a transliteration); Jeju City, Jeju Province |
| Package size | 210 g |
| Actual use-by date recorded by MFDS | 2027.07.26 (July 26, 2027) |
| Production quantity stated | 7.56 kg (36 units) |
| Recall authority | Jeju City Hall |
The official Korean PDF, page 1 and product appendix on page 2, is the source for these fields. The date July 26, 2027 is the actual use-by date in the agency's records, not a date you should expect to find printed on the affected packages. Do not decide an unmarked item is unaffected merely because you cannot find that date. Conversely, this announcement does not recall every sea urchin condiment or every jar weighing 210 g. The 36 units figure is the notice's production quantity, not verified current retail stock or remaining recall inventory.
What to do with an item at home
- Stop consuming a potentially matching item while confirming its identity. Compare the full Korean product name, named repacker, 210 g size and purchase records with the MFDS notice.
- Ask your seller to verify the original package and sales records if you bought a portion separately, discarded its outer packaging, or cannot identify its repacker. The image in this article is not an identification aid.
- For an affected item, return it to the place of purchase. MFDS explicitly asks consumers who bought the product to stop eating it and return it. Ask the seller about its actual return process; the PDF does not establish each shop's refund policy or completed recall count.
MFDS lists 1399 and its Nae Son An food-safety app for reporting food-related illegal conduct. Those are reporting routes; returning an identified recalled purchase to its seller is a different step. A remaining future use-by date in the government record should not be treated as permission to consume a recalled product. This is a marking-compliance recall as stated in this notice, with no separate contamination conclusion stated there.
About the Author
Life Mokcha's editorial team separates the precise label omission, the product identifier and the consumer return instruction in the MFDS notice. It cannot determine an individual jar's identity from appearance or diagnose health effects.
