Experts say, "China's unsanitary pickled cabbage in the video, it doesn't seem to be a Korean consumer product."
"The government has banned all video pickings since 2019…"All the process of cutting for export to Korea is carried out indoors."
Regarding China's unsanitary pickled cabbage video, which has recently become a social issue, local experts said the direct connection to kimchi consumed in Korea was low.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety made the announcement at an expert advisory meeting attended by consumer groups, academia and industries to check the safety of imported pickled cabbage and kimchi held at the Seoul Regional Office on the 18th.
The meeting was held to gather experts' opinions on the importability of pickled cabbage in Korea, import cabbage and safety tests of kimchi as video clips of unsanitary pickled cabbage in foreign countries became a social issue.
Experts who attended the meeting explained about the recently reported pickled cabbage video, "It is a past video posted on the Chinese online community in June 2020, and the Chinese government has also banned this pickled method from 2019."
"It seems that the direct connection with kimchi currently consumed in Korea is low," he added. "It is not used to manufacture kimchi that we normally eat."
Seo Hye-young, a senior researcher at the World Kimchi Institute, said, "The pickled method shown in the video changes the color of cabbages and the nature of the tissues, so it is inappropriate to use them as a material for manufacturing cabbage kimchi."
"Korean kimchi is pickled cabbage with salt and proper level of water (unlocked), but in the video, it is not our traditional kimchi manufacturing method as it is a manufacturing method that erodes all the moisture of cabbage by sinking into excessive water," he said.
Professor Lim Won-hyuk of Daegu University emphasized, "The pickled cabbage, which once has an exotic taste, does not disappear no matter how much you wash, so it can be blocked by sensual inspection (product properties, condition, taste, color, etc.) at the customs stage."
Kim Dong-joo, head of the Daegu Support Center for Safety Management and Certification, who visited the site from 2016 to 2019, said, "All the process of pickled cabbage kimchi exported to Korea is carried out indoors."
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has been strengthening on-site inspections (sensuality, marking) and precision inspections (preservation fees, food poisoning bacteria tests, etc.) at the import customs clearance stage since the 12th.
In addition, it said it will continue to implement import food safety policies to reflect the opinions of experts with various expertise and experience so that consumers can purchase imported food with confidence.
Inquiries: Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Import Food Safety Bureau Imported Food Policy Division (043-719-2162)
[Source] South Korea Policy Briefing (www.Korea)kr)
