By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
The Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) said Monday that it has detected no more cases of melamine-tainted food other than the 10 products already identified and recalled. It added that no vegetables had been contaminated by the chemical.
In an interim report, the KFDA confirmed that it had detected melamine in 10 out of 428 imported foods from China and New Zealand, but said it had not been able to test 26 powdered milk containing ingredients from China that it could not track down.
The administration lifted a sales ban on 212 products, but bans will be maintained on 216, including the 26, which could not be checked because they were imported in too small a quantity.
Items that were found to contain trace levels of melamine include Kit Kat bars, Misarang Custard and peanut Snickers the KFDA said, adding that the chemical was not found in 94 percent of all items checked.
Spokesman Choi Sung-rak said no chemical was found on imported vegetables including mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, ginger and asparagus.
The administration will establish a database of foods banned from sale so customers can easily identify them.
Up to 300,000 won ($300) will be given to those who report the sale of blacklisted items.
``The amount of melamine found in the products here was quite small and not dangerous,'' Choi said. ``The government will constantly monitor the impact of melamine on human health.''
Health Minister Jeon Jae-hee admitted the government had been lax in monitoring the quality of imported foreign foods. ``We should have examined all the products when reports about melamine contamination broke on Sept. 11, but I regret that inspectors began the inspection only after China confirmed it,'' Jeon said.
``I apologize that regulators were not quick enough to start inspections,'' she added.
Rep. Baek Won-woo of the opposition Democratic Party said the amount of melamine found in Misarang Coconut from Haitai confectionary was 137 parts per million (ppm), far above the American minimum standard.
He said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's standard for melamine was less than 2.5 ppm for non-baby foods. However, among those confirmed to have contained the toxic chemical, most exceeded the ``tolerable'' level, he said.
Baek also added, ``The American authorities refused to set a minimum standard for baby food because they do not know the damage it could cause. The government is trying to fool the people by confirming food is safe.''