Kimchi flies in restaurants start to fly… fear of’naked cabbage’ attacks Korea

Lee, 59, an office worker living in Yeouido, Seoul, is having trouble choosing a lunch menu recently. Usually, I eat Korean food with my colleagues at a restaurant near the company, but most of them contain kimchi. Mr. Lee said, “I don’t walk to the kimchi stew or cheonggukjang that I ate frequently.”

Kim Mo (55), who runs a kimbap store in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, said, “Recently, customers who eat at stores don’t touch kimchi. Even those who wrap it look for pickled radish instead of kimchi,” he said. Mr. Kim explained, “Even if you want to use Korean kimchi, the price is about 3-4 times different, so you can’t be too strong.”

This phenomenon of’avoiding kimchi’ began with a recent online video. In the video titled’How to Pickle Cabbage in Large Volumes in China’, a pit is dug in the open air, covered with plastic, and the cabbage is pickled. In particular, men who appear naked go directly into the yellow water to retrieve the cabbage with their bare hands and load it on a rusted excavator. As the video spread, the phenomenon of avoiding Chinese kimchi occurred, and the aftermath is spreading to general restaurants.

Regarding this suspicion, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (KFDA) cut off that there is no possibility that the cabbage had entered Korea because the video was taken before 2019. In fact, the video was uploaded to the Chinese community in June of last year, and it turned out to have been circulated in 2018. Food Policy Division, Food and Drug Administration Officer Ma Jeong-ae said, “At the time, the Chinese authorities recognized the problem and completely banned the pickling method in water from 2019. There is no possibility that it was imported.”

So, what about in 2019, when the video appears to have been filmed? Secretary Ma drew a line saying, “Even based on the past, there is no possibility that it was imported.” He explained that the color and texture of the cabbage shown in the video is completely different from the kimchi consumed in Korea. He added, “I did a local inspection at a factory in China from 2016 to 2019. At least, pickled cabbages imported from China are hygienically manufactured inside the factory, not outdoors,” he said. said.

However, as the controversy did not subside, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety held an expert advisory meeting attended by consumer groups, academia, and industry on the 18th to hear objective opinions. Seo Hye-young, a senior researcher at the World Kimchi Research Institute, who attended the meeting said, “The pickling method shown in the video changes color of cabbage and softens the tissue, so it is not suitable to be used as an ingredient for making cabbage kimchi that we normally eat. “It cannot be seen as a traditional kimchi manufacturing method,” he explained.

Lee Sang-hyuk, professor of food engineering at Daegu University, said, “Because pickled cabbages that have a different color or off-flavor do not disappear no matter how much they are washed, they can be sufficiently blocked by sensory testing (product properties, conditions, taste, color, etc.) at the customs clearance stage. In addition, it is thoroughly managed by additionally conducting detailed inspections to confirm contamination status physically, chemically and microbiologically.”

Since the controversy, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has strengthened on-site inspection and overhaul at the customs clearance stage from the 12th to dispel concerns about imported pickled cabbage. Secretary Ma said, “We also added a food poisoning bacteria test that was not done before. We will also strengthen on-site inspections of local factories in China.”

Reporter Woorim Lee [email protected]