McDonald’s Korea said Monday that it will introduce a sanitation grading system for all its restaurants by 2020, following recent controversy over food hygiene.

The US fast food chain said that it has decided to manage store operations with strengthened standards and introduce a restaurant sanitation grading system, in addition to random inspections at its stores conducted by outside specialist organizations. 

Late last month, a local media outlet released photos of undercooked patties and unclean cooking utensils inside McDonald’s stores, claiming the photos were taken and reported by a McDonald’s employee. 

To ease negative public sentiment, the company held an open-kitchen event last week inviting customers to its 310 branches nationwide to survey its management of inventory, kitchen hygiene and the cooking process. 

McDonald’s Korea said it will conduct an open-kitchen event twice a year for active communication with its customers. 


“We are going to put all our efforts to satisfying evolving customer standard and expectation, and also make sure that customers can visit our restaurants with confidence,” said McDonald’s Korea managing director Melanie Joh. 

In addition, McDonald’s said it will more actively hear customer’s voices in real time through its service called My Voice, which customers can have access to via a QR code or on McDonald’s official mobile application. 

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)