Namyang says it snot responsible for object

A customer claimed a package of Namyang Dairy Products milk powder contained dried nasal mucus and what seemed to be a nose hair.

The company said that’s impossible considering its manufacturing methods.

The news went viral online on Monday when local news media reported that a customer had found the foreign objects in Imperial XO milk powder, a steady seller for Namyang.

Upon receiving the complaint, the company suggested the customer send it the product for investigation and it sent a replacement.

On Tuesday, Namyang released a statement saying that an internal investigation found the particle was presumably dried nasal mucus with a hair of 2.4 millimeters. But the company insisted that it was impossible that the source was its factory.

“Every step of our production line runs automatically, and anyone that understands this system will know how irrational it is to say the substance was included,” said Namyang CEO Lee Jeong-in in the statement.

“We will conduct every test necessary by credible third-party institutions in order to prove there was no way the particle could have mixed with our product in the manufacturing process.”

Namyang said it will invite customers or the press to its factory to demonstrate its state-of-art machinery and how it was impossible for external substances to be mixed with the milk powder.

“If it is proved that the particle was included during the manufacturing process, we are willing to take every legal and ethical responsibility that follows,” the company said. A spokesman added that Namyang is willing to submit the particle to a DNA test and have its employees in the factory take tests, too.

The news prompted scores of comments online mainly from mothers who expressed distrust in Namyang or asked for alternatives. “I ordered another milk powder from Namyang but canceled it as soon as I saw the news report,” wrote one participant in one of Naver’s largest mom communities.

This was not the first time Namyang’s milk powder was accused of containing questionable substances. On Naver, postings often come up in online mom communities saying their products contained foreign substances, like bugs or unidentified particles.

BY SONG KYOUNG-SON [song.kyoungson@joongang.co.kr ]