SEOUL– An appellate court on Thursday upheld the conviction of three officials from a former burger patty supplier for McDonald’s Korea on charges of providing tainted patties but slightly reduced their sentences.
The three officials of the supplier, whose name was withheld, were indicted without detention in 2018 for distributing beef patties contaminated with E. coli and other toxins to McDonald’s Korea.
About a year ago, the Seoul Central District Court convicted all three for violating the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act and handed out suspended jail terms ranging from two to three years.
The appellate division of the same court confirmed their convictions but cut the length of their suspended prison sentences by four months each by acquitting them of some of their charges due to lack of evidence.
However, the appellate court raised the amount of fine slapped on the patty supplier from 40 million won (US$36,200) to 100 million won.
Their indictments came after a group of local consumers filed complaints with the prosecution claiming that they or their families suffered from hemolytic uremic syndrome, known simply as HUS, after eating McDonald’s burgers served with undercooked patties.
Source: Yonhap News Agency