By Kim Cheong-won
Staff Reporter


Health officials have again discovered parasite eggs in some Chinese-made kimchi products, escalating public concerns about the health risks of food imports.

The Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) said Thursday that it has found parasite eggs in 15 samples of 82 Chinese kimchi products stored in warehouses.

Kimchi is a spicy fermented cabbage and radish that is the main side dish of most Korean meals.

Quarantine officials have conducted inspections on a total of 82 Chinese kimchi products (227.6 tons) stored in warehouses after customs clearance since the food regulator found three species of parasite eggs in nine samples of the 18 Chinese kimchi products sold in Internet shopping malls last Friday.

``Among the 82 products, parasite eggs were found in 15 samples (22.9 tons) with 43 products being egg-free. The remaining 24 products are currently under inspection,’’ Kwon Ki-sung, a KFDA official, told reporters.

He added that the KFDA already recalled all of the inventory of the 15 products.

The regulator is expected to announce today the results of additional tests for parasite eggs on 100 brands imported from China.

The KFDA will also announce next week its tests results on 290 domestically produced kimchi products.

It plans to conduct parasite inspections regularly on all kimchi products made at home and abroad.

It will also strengthen its screening efforts on Chinese kimchi products before they are allowed to be imported.

They are also discussing contingency measures with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to ban substandard kimchi products.

``Chinese farmers often use human excrement as fertilizers when growing cabbages for kimchi. There is a possibility that the parasites could invade the cabbages through that channel,’’ a KFDA official said.

The recent food scandals reveal the problems of Korea’s public quarantine system as it came just a month after authorities banned the sale of some Chinese-made kimchi after they found a significantly high lead content in it.

In July, the KFDA also banned the sale of imported Chinese eels and other fish products after finding they were contaminated with malachite green, a cancer-causing substance.

Following the scandals over the Chinese food imports, the Korean government plans to hold a high-level meeting with China to prevent tension caused by contaminated kimchi from damaging the two countries’ overall trade relations.

The issue took a turn for the worse after the media reported that China was considering possible retaliatory measures against South Korea’s blockage of kimchi imports.

The government had been discussing ways to strengthen the safety regulation standards for imported food products

More than 72,600 tons of kimchi produced in China were imported into South Korea last year alone, according to government data.

kcw@koreatimes.co.kr