Korean Job Discussion Forums

Dr. Buck · Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Location: Land of the Morning Clam

Consider this the next time you're having some jo-gye tang:

From the US FDA
http://www.fda.gov/ora/fiars/ora_import_ia16126.html

"DETENTION WITHOUT PHYSICAL
EXAMINATION OF FRESH OR FRESH FROZEN RAW MOLLUSCAN SHELLFISH FROM SPECIFIC
CERTIFIED SHIPPERS IN THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA"

A consequence of these floating structures is that human and animal
waste can be discarded into the approved harvesting areas. The evaluators observed: sanitary facilities for humans were either
non-existent, infrequently used, or in disrepair; animal (dog and
cat) waste was lying on floating docks; and the overboard discharge
from fish farms was in close proximity to the oysters. This waste
from either human or animal sources could be directly discharged
into the water in and adjacent to previously approved shellfish
harvesting areas.

The evaluators also observed that aquaculture shellfish harvesting
vessels did not have on-board containers for holding human wastes,
creating the potential for human wastes to be discharged overboard
directly into waters approved for shellfish harvesting. In
addition, other activities, including bathing, hand washing,
laundering of clothes, processing and routine maintenance,
contributed contaminants directly into the surface waters of the
previously approved harvesting areas. Since molluscan shellfish are
filter feeders, they are able to concentrate viral, bacterial and
chemical contaminants to significantly higher levels than in the
surrounding waters.

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

Please serve me the crab stuffed with lead ingots.
(Anyone remember that?)

Juggertha · Joined: 27 May 2003 Location: Anyang, Korea

hhe, if we knew what was really IN ALL the food (back home or here) i'm sure we'd all heave.

tsgarp · Joined: 01 Dec 2003

fidel · Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Location: North Shore NZ

I have eaten any shellfish since I first came to Korea way way way back at the turn of the century. These filter feeders concentrate huge amounts of Mercury and heavy metals in their systems and aren't able to process or expell it through waste. If you have ever seen the Yellow Sea and still partaken of the seafood here, you must either be crazy or have that never say die attitude.

I have a suspicion, totally underfounded of course, that hundreds if not thousands die ever year from contaminated seafood. The media are obviously not allowed to report it and the police just mark it down as an 'Act of God'.

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

tsgarp · Joined: 01 Dec 2003

Dr. Buck · Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Location: Land of the Morning Clam

I'm a fresh seafood lover to the end.

Yet, in the seaside industrial wasteland where I live, the clam digging ajummas are out in full force in hip waders--out in the mudflats when the tide goes out--collecting clams and whatever else is vaguely edible.

One of the world's largest steelyards is one hundred yards away from this enclosed bay. It makes you wonder. No aquatic vegetation grows along the banks or in he shallows-as a bioindicator, when even some species of weeds won't even grow there it has to beg a question of what is going on in the water.

I've cast my fishing line out there with jigs, flies, various lures and nothing--not the slightest hint of life. Except for those bivalves that the ajummas seemingly continue to overharvest.

Since I go fishing every weekend, I've become more observant on what goes and flows into Korea's waters. What I have seen after hundreds--, thousands of hours of standing along Korea's riverbanks and shorelines--is not optimisitic. It is sad, much of it is sickening.

And back to the orginal tangent, you have to second guess everything that goes on your cutting board in the kitchen. One of the most popular items of garbage that I come across while fishing the rivers is empty bottles of pesticide and herbicide. An amazing number. Next time you're out hiking look for them--they are everywhere.

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003