Chapter 169
Even in twenty-first-century Korea, where food hygiene is considered important, many restaurant owners fail to follow hygiene rules properly.
It is not uncommon to find mold growing in corners because the kitchen is not cleaned properly, cockroaches laying eggs, ingredients stored in containers with no expiration date marked on them, or expired ingredients being used on the excuse that they are frozen foods.
Yet thoroughly managing food hygiene in Joseon, where the very concept of food hygiene laws does not exist, cannot be an easy task...
"Even if it isn't easy, it needs to be done, so I suppose I have to do it."
At a company, someone else will do the job even if I do not, so there is no need to overwork myself.
If I ruin my health and become unable to do even the things that only I can do, that would be an even bigger problem.
But in Joseon, virtually no one knows how important food hygiene is.
'If I don't do it, no one else can.'
The same was true of mass-producing gunpowder, devising the lead-silver separation method to mine silver on Tsushima Island, and introducing the Bang-won method to increase government revenue while reducing the tax burden on the people.
"Is the tavern keeper here?"
"Yes, my lord..."
The tavern keeper looked back and forth between me in my official robes and the clerks and constables I had brought with me, then froze solid on the spot.
She seemed to think she had been caught doing something wrong...
To be honest, you have already committed a crime deserving severe punishment.
You nearly killed someone through negligence, after all.
"Yesterday, I ordered mackerel baekban here for lunch. The mackerel, rice, side dishes, and even the makgeolli all tasted slightly off, and they reeked of sourness as well. How could you serve and sell such spoiled food to your customers?"
"Oh, please forgive me. I failed to realize that you were a person of such high rank. My lord, I will never do it again. If you forgive me just this once, I swear I will never commit such a thing again. Please, have mercy."
In dramas and movies, there is a tendency to portray the rich as hedonists and human garbage, while the poor are portrayed as kind and diligent.
But I believe that is nothing more than a cliché used to make dramas, movies, novels, and the like more entertaining.
Rich or poor, people are all the same in the end.
So there must be poor people who are wicked and evil, as well as wealthy people who are kind and generous, mustn't there?
"From now on, you will answer every question I ask without the slightest lie. Answering honestly is the only way you will survive."
Joseon had no food hygiene laws, and the very concept of hygiene was weak as well.
Therefore, I was willing to overlook minor matters such as cooking utensils being kept somewhat haphazardly or grease caked onto the cauldron and hearth.
It would be quite unfair to punish someone for an offense committed out of genuine ignorance.
I should first properly inform them that such things violate the law, and only punish them after that.
Still, even if they knew absolutely nothing about food hygiene laws or the importance of hygiene...
Could someone who sold food for a living really take money from people in exchange for alcohol and food that were obviously spoiled?
Even this tavern keeper could not be unaware that eating spoiled food and drinking spoiled alcohol could cause illnesses such as food poisoning.
But I could not forgive her for running her business with the attitude that it would probably be fine if people just ate it like this, despite knowing that.
"Yes, my lord."
"Why did you put the food before your customers even though it had begun to spoil?"
"My family eats the same food, but none of us has ever suffered any ill effects, so I thought the customers would be fine as well. Please forgive me. I will never do it again."
"People with weak stomachs or intestines can suffer an upset stomach or come down with diarrheal disease from eating food that has spoiled to that extent. Did you never consider that?"
"I'm sorry, my lord. Please, please have mercy."
The crimes committed by the poor and those committed by the rich were all crimes just the same.
"Show us where you store your food and where the kitchen is."
"Yes, my lord... This way."
When the people saw a high-ranking official from Hanseongbu, along with clerks and soldiers, gathered inside the restaurant, onlookers swarmed around both inside and outside it like clouds.
Some of them recognized me and began chattering among themselves.
"Isn't that the famous Director Kim?"
"Why has Director Kim come to a place that sells food with soldiers in tow...?"
"I hear they sold spoiled food. This place has been like that for a while, too. Rice and side dishes that reeked of sourness, not to mention the makgeolli. I complained once that the food smelled sour, but she threw salt at me and told me never to come back if I was going to say such nonsense, claiming that her own family ate it too."
The people would probably think I was strange for making such a fuss over someone selling food that was only slightly spoiled.
It certainly was strange for a high-ranking fourth-rank official to come personally to a restaurant to inspect its food.
In Korea, it would be like a Grade 2 civil servant serving as a director in a central government ministry, a mayor of Jeju Province, or a deputy mayor in an enormous city such as Suwon or Changwon.
A local government official going out into the field to conduct hygiene inspections.
Come to think of it, what I was doing now was probably similar to a colonel who commanded a brigade personally inspecting the state of cleanliness in the barracks.
Still, if I put on this much of a show, I would plant the following idea in the minds of the people.
If a restaurant failed to properly manage its hygiene, a very high-ranking official would personally come down hard on it.
"This is the kitchen."
The kitchen was cleaner than I had expected.
There was some grease caked onto things, and traces of cooking remained here and there, but it seemed that they at least did some cleaning while running the place.
However, the bin where food waste had been collected because it was not thrown out promptly smelled somewhat, and since it had been placed near the cooking area, the whole arrangement did not look particularly hygienic.
"Where do you store the ingredients and alcohol?"
"This way, my lord."
The place the tavern keeper led me to contained large quantities of ingredients and alcohol.
When I checked the ingredients, I found, just as I had expected, spoiled items here and there.
"This radish is black in many places, with large sections having gone bad, and the mackerel smells rather unpleasant, so it seems to have spoiled as well. Let's see... Most of the vegetables are not fresh but quite badly spoiled and soft. To think you would cook these things and sell them. Truly remarkable."
"I apologize, my lord..."
"Did you truly never think that customers might get sick from eating food made with ingredients like these? Because everyone ate moderately spoiled food without complaining, did you think it was acceptable to take their money and sell it?"
Just looking at this made my anger rise.
If someone running a restaurant made and sold food using ingredients this spoiled, a mass food-poisoning incident really would happen sooner or later.
It was chilling just to think about.
"Ah, and now, about the condition of the makgeolli..."
I scooped out a little makgeolli from the jar and tasted it.
The makgeolli tasted sour and bitter, and its smell was tangy as well. It seemed to be genuinely spoiled makgeolli.
"The makgeolli is completely spoiled, and some of the food ingredients have gone bad as well. If we left things like this, you would have killed quite a few people. How have you been managing food this way? Were you planning to fix things only after people actually started dying?"
"I'm sorry, my lord... Please, have mercy..."
I was very angry, but there was no need for me to keep venting my anger here.
These people had failed to manage even their ingredients properly, so they were deserving of severe punishment, whether that meant being hauled to Hanseongbu and flogged or something else.
"Military Officer Kim."
"Yes, my lord."
"Have every liquor jar here smashed. They are filled with spoiled makgeolli, after all. And burn all the ingredients left here, except for items like rice that do not spoil easily."
"What?"
"Every drop of takbaegi sold here is rotten liquor. Anyone who consumes it will suffer an upset stomach and come down with diarrheal disease. Then several people who contract it will die. If this is not a jar of poison, what is it?"
After saying this, I forcefully kicked over one of the nearby liquor jars to set an example.
With a loud crash, the jar shattered and the makgeolli inside spilled across the floor.
The sour smell characteristic of rotten alcohol stabbed at my nose.
It was not quite as bad as food waste, but it was a foul stench that made me feel dirty just by smelling it.
When I got home, I felt I would have to bathe first, and my official robes splashed with makgeolli would need to be washed anew.
"Tavern keeper."
"Yes, my lord."
"What you did is equivalent to selling poison to people for money. If I applied the penal code strictly, I could even prosecute you for attempted murder."
Of course, I had no intention of going that far.
Attempted murder for selling spoiled food? That would be excessive.
But once I announced the Food Hygiene Act, if someone knowingly sold spoiled goods, I thought it would be reasonable to try them on attempted murder charges.
In a world where people were highly likely to die after eating rotten food and contracting food poisoning, anyone who knowingly sold spoiled food obviously deserved severe punishment.
"Bind that woman immediately and transport her to Hanseongbu."
"Yes, my lord."
"And starting today, we will visit every establishment in Hanyang that sells food and inspect such things as whether it sells spoiled food and what its cooking environment is like. Anyone caught selling spoiled food will be taken to Hanseongbu and punished very severely."
At the mention of severe punishment, the tavern keeper, bound in ropes, began to tremble.
I did not particularly feel sorry for her.
Why would you sell spoiled food to people, then?
"Let's go to the next restaurant."
I visited forty establishments selling food that day alone, and over the course of a week, I inspected every place selling food in Hanyang and the nearby Seongjeosimni.
No fewer than thirty-two people were caught by me selling food in poor condition.
This was a complete and utter mess.