Maeil Dairies, a major dairy manufacturer, apologized on Monday for an accident involving the mixing of a cleaning solution into one of its sterilized dairy products during production.

Maeil Dairies CEO Kim Seon-hee said in a statement on the company’s website that a valve operation error caused the cleaning solution to momentarily mix with the 200 milliliters of product. sterilized slag at the company’s manufacturing plant in Gwangju, about 270 kilometers south of Seoul, on September 19.

“We sincerely apologize to our customers who were shocked by this issue,” Kim said.

The company said around 50 units delivered to a single specific customer were affected by the incident, Yonhap news agency reports.

The problem came to light after some employees at a large corporate research center reported symptoms, such as stomach problems. pain and discolorationafter consuming the product provided through the company cafeteria last Thursday.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said it was conducting an on-site investigation with local authorities to find the cause of the incident.

“We will respond appropriately under relevant laws when the results of the investigation are made public,” the food safety agency said.

Separately, the Ministry of Agriculture recently said dairy farmers and companies had reached an agreement to freeze the price of raw milk to ease the public burden amid continued inflation.

The deal was reached after negotiations that began in June to address rising production costs, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

As large milk producers, notably Seoul Dairy CooperativeMaeil Dairies Co. and Namyang Dairy Products, have committed to freezing the retail prices of their plain milk, the ministry added that the move would also help limit the rise in prices of other related products that use milk as an ingredient.

Separate data compiled by Statistics Korea shows the cost of milk production increased by 4.6 won per liter from the previous year.

(With inputs from IANS)