By Kim Cheong-won
Staff Reporter


Chang Un-kyoung, a 34-year-old housewife, is worried about what food to prepare for the memorial for her family’s ancestors on Chusok, or Full Moon Day, which falls on Sept. 17.

After health authorities found imported Chinese fisheries and food products contaminated with cancer-causing substances last month, she has no idea what to buy.

``I don’t know what is safe to buy to put on the ritual-table,’’ she said, ``Even if I wanted to buy Korean products, it is almost impossible to tell which one is imported Chinese and which one is not.’’

A growing number of Koreans have expressed their concerns about contaminated Chinese food products as almost half of Korean tables are filled with grains, vegetables, meat and fish imported from China.

Health authorities recently banned the sale of imported Chinese eels and their processed products as a cancer-causing substance was detected in them.

The Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) said that all seven live eel specimens tested on Aug. 18 were found to contain malachite green, a possible carcinogen, while six of the seven frozen processed eels tested also carried traces of the substance.

The KFDA recalled and destroyed all eel and processed food products found to contain the carcinogen.

In the first seven months of this year, 1,466 tons of Chinese eels and 1,262 tons of their processed products have been imported to the country, according to the KFDA.

Malachite green had been used as a food preservative to keep germs, fungus and parasites in check until the early 1990s when it was proved to cause cancer and subsequently banned across the world.

However, the material is still in use in some countries such as China because of its low price and good preservative effect.

On Tuesday, the KFDA also found the same substance in imported Chinese Prussian carp.

But, the problem is that the KFDA investigation only came after the Xinhua News Agency of China reported some of the country’s food companies were using the material for their eel products to make them look fresh.

``There is an inspection list during the importing process. But, malachite green was not on the checklist,’’ Choi Suk-young, a KFDA offical, told The Korea Times.

``This means that without a report from outside, we could not launch any investigation to check for the harmful substance,’’ he added.

He said malachite green is now on the special inspection list and relevant examinations are carried out to prevent the import of contaminated fish.

He suggested strengthening information networks to better deal with the problem.

Upgrading the system, however, looks like it has a long way to go.

Currently, only one KFDA official was dispatched to China to gather information about harmful substances.

Furthermore, due to a lack of manpower and budget, the inspection was not carried out properly.

``As we don’t have enough manpower to examine those imported goods, we cannot conduct a thorough inspection of them. Mostly, we approve imported goods based on their documents, without actual examination,’’ an official at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries said on condition of anonymity.

In general, inspection is done on a random sampling of imported goods. About 20 percent of the total imports are chosen for inspection.

``Since malachite green has been found in imported Chinese eels and Prussian carp, we are conducting the inspection on every good, not only the sample base,’’ said Kim Chong-sil, a ministry official.

Many experts argue that what the government is doing is merely mending the barn after the horse was stolen.

``Without reforming the current inspection system, similar incidents will happen again,’’ said Hur Nam-youn, a professor at Osan University in Kyonggi Province.

``Korea cannot put the blame only on China’s lax production and lagging distribution systems,’’ he added.

According to the KFDA, South Korea imported 1.7 million tons of Chinese food stuffs in the first seven months of this year, exceeding last year’s 1.67 million tons. If the trend continues, this year’s total imports from China will more than double to 3.5 million tons.

kcw@koreatimes.co.kr