It was just yesterday when we were concerned about news reports about harmful food products made in China. This time around you're left at a complete loss to learn that Chinese-made gimchi with lead in it has been quickly overtaking Korean meal tables.
The Seoul Institute of Health and Environment performed tests of ten Chinese gimchi products and found that they contained 3 to 5 times more the lead than Korean gimchi. The Korean Restaurant Association, meanwhile, has found that one out of two Korean restaurants in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province are using that Chinese gimchi. 391 tons were imported in 2001, and by last year some 72,800 tons were imported, an increase of 185 times more. It is hard for restaurant proprietors and common families to resist the temptation when it's sold so cheaply.
The problem is safety. Korean can get the vitamin C and minerals their bodies need from gimchi alone. It is for that reason that a mother sends her married children gimchi if nothing else. It is a national problem if such gimchi is being replaced with Chinese-produced gimchi that contains high volumes of lead. When lead accumulates in a pregnant woman it can cause premature birth, miscarriage, birth defects, and in young children it can destroy the immune system in the kidneys, liver, and nerve system.
Such is the case and still the Korean Food and Drug Administration has not established a standard for how much metal matter is permissible in vegetables and vegetable products. At the wholesale stage food product labels must state the place of origin, but there's no way to know where food came from when you see it at restaurants or industrial kitchens. Consumers eat what they eat thinking it's Korean.
Gimchi is a food that preserves our lives and it is the pride of our culture. Maintaining life and pride is the authorities obligation. They need to prevent the importation of harmful gimchi and make it possible for consumers to know where what they're eating comes from. They need to make sure gimchi made outside the country isn't sold as Korea-made and is allowed to smear our culture's reputation.
The Hankyoreh, 25 September 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] We Want Safe Gimchi |
