Unapproved chemical found in vegetables

By Kim Rahn

An agrichemical unapproved by the government has been found on leaves from vegetables which people often eat after wrapping them around pieces of meat.

According to the Seoul City’s Research Institute of Public Health and Environment on Monday, it and other health agencies have found the chemical in 15 out of some 11,200 inspections this year so far.

Between 0.1 and 2.2 parts per million (ppm) of the chemical was detected. These figures were up to 44-fold the permissible level of 0.05 ppm which Korea set in January. The level is much higher than 0.01 ppm set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Last year, the agencies detected the chemical in 49 cases out of about 4,000 between June and November. The detected levels were also between 0.09 and 17.89 ppm.

Uniconazole is used for stunting the growth of vegetables, and farmers use it to grow vegetables the size of human hands, so that it is easy for customers to wrap rice or other foods with the leaves, according to the institute.

“The substance has been used in China as an agrichemical, and is not registered in Korea. But farmers here brought it from China in unofficial ways, and it was detected last year during our regular inspection,” Hwang In-sook, team manager of the institute, said. Uniconazole can cause headaches, fatigue or convulsions.

The chemical was found in leaf mustard, small-sized Chinese cabbage, kale and rocket, she said.

Korea didn’t have a standard for permissible levels for uniconazole until January when the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) set one following the Seoul institute’s request.

“After detecting the substance, we asked the administration to take safety measures. It immediately established the standard and since then we and other food agencies inspect the uniconazole level in agricultural products,” Hwang said.

“If the chemical is found, we collect and destroy the products and take administrative measures on the providers,” she added.

She said the strengthened measure has reduced the use of uniconazole.

“Although the frequency of the chemical use has decreased, such vegetables are one of the most frequently eaten food items,” she said.