In the midst of the Chinese food scare, a lawmaker claimed that South Korea opened the door for unsafe Chinese seafood products on a full scale by signing an unfair agreement during last month’s Korea-China summit, MBC reported Saturday.
“The rights of the public’s health safety shouldn’t become a summit present,” opposition lawmaker Kang Ki-gab said, adding that an agreement at the summit lowered the import requirements for the Chinese seafood products,
The agreement includes a clause that bans the import of Chinese products contaminated with the toxin chemical malachite green _ if detected twice and more a year. Malachite green is known to cause a significant health risk to humans who eat fish contaminated with it.
However, the same agreement otherwise allows the resumption of imports as long as China “notifies” Korea that it has improved the situation.
Critics point out the new agreement handed over the initiative of the resumption of import to China, endangering the food safety in Korea.
In the past, the import law allowed the resumption of import only “when the problem is completely solved.”
Rep. Kang also mentioned that the Chinese products take the bulk of the unqualified import products found to be defected, adding that considering Chinese authorities’ handling of food safety issues are subject to the international criticism, the Korean government neglected to safeguard the general public’s health.
The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishers countered Kang’s criticism by saying that the new agreement allows a joint inspection when necessary, and has an expanded check list such as antibiotics or disease-causing listeria bacteria. The government agency said Korea’s inspection has been improved by the recent agreement.
Meanwhile, large-scale discount supermarket and store chains such as E-Mart, Home Plus, Lotte and other convenience stores have withdrawn a list of 305 Chinese products from their shelves starting from 11 p.m. Friday after the food authorities moved to ban the sales of these products temporarily to carry out inspections, Yonhap reported. If found not containing the toxic chemical melamine, the products will be able to resume their sales, it said.