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[wylies99]

Recall of Questionable Foods Goes Unheeded

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/09/117_30647.html

By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

A rat's head in a shrimp snack and a razor blade in a tuna can raised public concern over food safety here in March, but it is little known that such foods were not recalled properly due to loose rules and management's failure to act.

According to the Korea Food and Drug Administration's report to Rep. Jeong Ha-gyun of the Pro-Park Alliance, only 7.2 percent of Saewukkang (fried shrimp snack) and 36.4 percent of canned tuna were returned to the makers.

The government asked the food manufacturers to collect all products from the same batch on the market, but since it was not an obligation, the companies largely ignored the request.

Nongshim, the maker of Saewukkang, set out to collect 3,906 kilograms of the snack, a mere 5 percent of the government's required 61,276 kilograms. Once the maker collected 4,434 kilograms, it promoted it as if it had achieved its goals, Jeong said. The same thing happened with Dongwon's canned tuna.

The largest problem occurs when food makers try to cover up the fact that they were required to collect a complete batch of troubled brand foods on the market. From 2005 to June 2008, the food administration has posted 355 recall orders and requested companies to announce the results, but only 16 were undertaken.

``We need to change the rules to oblige responsible firms to announce the results of recalls to let the public know about the trouble so they can avoid it. Also opening the recall rate to the public is essential,'' Jeong said.

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[wylies99]

[Gollywog]

My suspicion is that when a chain finds they have contaminated food product, they just put the product on an unadvertised sale, maybe one of the BOGO deals. I've gotten some stuff on sale that turned out to taste bad or smell bad, or sometimes rice that had bugs in it.

I'm beginning to wonder if the reason Koreans don't want to buy cheap stuff is because of precisely this, that the stuff on sale, historically, has been spoiled in some way.

And if you get something that tastes odd, especially a strong chemical taste, do not eat it. People have died from contaminated food products in Asia.

[aphase]

this reminds me, if you ever buy the can of starbucks doubleshot at the convenience store (the americano version one in the silverish can) pour it into a glass before you drink it. You'll notice all these chunks and bits of something on the bottom.

My co-teacher alerted me to this as i was about to drink one. She told me that her sister bought a whole case of them and discovered those little chunks in the bottom (i have no idea what they were by the way) and the company reimbursed her buy sending her a whole case of another type of canned coffee. Apparently this stuff is canned under license by a korean company, and they also can the other brand. Funny thing is that the company addmitted they knew about those little chunks, and sent her the alternative brand no questions asked.

A little weird huh? Anyways i stopped drinking the starbucks doubleshot. haha. i thought it was funny my co-teacher insisted on pouring my can into a glass tho, never got to drink coffee that day. oh well.

[wylies99]

Chunks of what?

[Return Jones]

This stuff happens everywhere. Right now in Canada there's a tainted luncheon meat scandal going on. I think 13 people have died from the meat. Seriously.

[sojusucks]

Yes, recalls occur in many countries.

How many countries though, only completely recalled 16 out of 355 recall orders, as mentioned in the op?

Here's a great quote: [url]Lee compromised South Korea's public health standards in order to better South Korea-United States relations[/url] (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_beef_imports_in_South_Korea).

Western countries are fairly powerful economically and are able to provide a higher degree of safety. Although, as the wikipedia article pointed out, there are a few crazy people in Korea that believe the opposite.

Apparently, Koreans expect this same high degree of safety, whether it's American or Australian beef. I guess three cases of "mad cow" is too much for American to have (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy). Even after MBC was found guilty of mistranslations to encourage fear, many Koreans stilled viewed American beef as unsafe probably due to the three accumulative outbreaks (http://alexandrakim.blogspot.com/2008/08/no-more-freedom-of-speech-in-south.html). At least that situation made Koreans aware of the numerious "downer cows" present in Korea and let to the subsequent destruction of these sick animals (http://www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsafety/news/fsnews.cfm?newsid=27125; http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200807/200807080017.html).


Well, many western countries, let's use America as the example as it is a popular country here in Korea, are dealing with animal rights, while Korea is still struggling with basic food safety (those poor, abused cows: http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/06/abuse-of-downer-cattle-continues-rep.html).

Remember the epidemic outbreak of "bird flu" or H5N1 (http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200808/200808180007.html; http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-11-27-bird-flu_x.htm)? Here's a little information about the spread of H5N1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N1.
Luckily, Korea takes H5N1 very seriously and tries to prevent it's spread. As they should be. Korea had one of the first reported outbreaks of the "bird flu" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_spread_of_H5N1). In fact South Korean groups aided the North during their outbreak of H5N1 (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/11/asia/AS-GEN-NKorea-Bird-Flu.php).

Can't we say that "mad cow" and the "bird flu" are comparable in seriousness? Which is worse: 3 out breaks of "mad cow" or multiple, serious out breaks of "bird flu?" According to the Korean media, three out breaks of "mad cow" is worse. Perhaps that is only because Koreans hold Western countries to higher standards than they hold their own country.

I think that Korean is well on its way to globalization. The Korean economy is very strong. And as a result, Koreans should no longer view themselves as a third world nation or less capable of meeting basic food safety standards. Korea, you can do it! 파이팅.