 A customer takes a look at vegetables at a grocery run by a domestic fair-trade group. |
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Is there a way we can find environmentally friendly produced, safe, cheap and ``socially right'' food? It may sound surreal, but some in the world say yes. They have found the answer in fair trade and domestic consumer-cooperatives.
Concern over food safety is larger than ever ― many people now think they cannot eat anything without doubting how it was made and where the ingredients came from. Disputes over U.S. beef possibly carrying mad cow disease that can produce a fatal disease for humans have now ignited the anxiety over the food we eat as a whole.
Some run to the streets calling for their right to eat healthy food by opposing the U.S. beef import deal, while some protest over genetically modified foods imported into the country. All agree that food is vital to human life and as many say, people shouldn't ``mess with it.''
However, some people are relatively unconcerned ― they say they are eating healthy and safe food through consumers' cooperatives- membership groups of local fair traders.
On Tuesday afternoon in the Haengbokjungshim (center for happiness) store in Gaepo-dong, southern Seoul, there were dozens of housewives dropping in to buy groceries. Many of them were looking at ready-made foods, some ``freshly squeezed juice'' or instant noodles.
One read the price tag and said to herself, ``that's not too expensive at all!'' In fact, a bag of organic bean sprouts was 1,250 won, only about 15 percent more expensive than others on the market. About 800 items displayed were affordable to people seeking safer food.
The shop is managed by the WomenLink Consumers Co-Operative, a domestic fair-trade group. Shop manager Choi Gyou-oh said the shop is running well.
Considering it opened just two weeks ago, having more than 250 customers a day is a real hit, with more people asking to join the co-operative. On Tuesday, several people paid 30,000 won for the lifetime membership of the group, and the number is expected to rise rapidly.
Ku Myoung-sook, spokesman for the group, said co-operatives are considered the best way to get safe food because they check every process in the making of it. Farmers show how their chickens are brought up; what they eat, how large their cages are and when and how they are slaughtered. Some show what kind of fertilizer they use, how vegetables are harvested and packaged.
They make sure they can track down any part of the production at any time so that people can be 100 percent sure of what they are eating.
Each product has its own serial number on the label and on the Web site www. kcod.or.kr for all cooperatives, one can easily see the name, contact points and even the ``philosophy'' of the producer. Some even disclose the soil, water and other facility conditions so that the consumers do not worry whether the slightest environmental factor harms their food on the dinner table.
The groups are proactive ― they check upon farms and factories regularly without giving prior notice and let members know what's going on in the production sector.
There are hundreds of co-operatives in the country, and now they are evolving from simply providing safe food for members to protecting the environment, caring about co-existing with local industry and other social issues.
In its initial stages, the movement was all about providing cheap organic food by cutting off secondary distributors and connecting producers and consumers.
Recently, the groups have come up with green products such as detergents, women's sanitary pads, lotions and toothpastes. ``We think one day, we could cover everything with green products,'' Ku said. They hold environmental campaigns ― encouraging members to wash dishes with special yeast, to not use disposable goods, to save electricity and use green products.
Also, they seek to harmonize with farmers by paying a ``reasonable'' amount of money. The producers are asked to make clean, organic, environmentally friendly made foods and receive more money than they used to.
The co-operatives secure their income by pre-fixing the prices and the amount of production at the beginning of the year. ``We try to let the producers make more than a certain amount of money so that they are willing to do this work again and again, which requires extensive care,'' Ku said.
``It is fair trade. They produce safe and good products for the members and society, and in return take the proper money for their labor, which is quite rare in Korea at the moment when they have to compete with cheap imported foods,'' she said. Of course some co-operatives also import foods from overseas. But they make sure it is fair trade, safe and environmentally friendly.
Though many cooperative members are relieved that they will not easily be affected by beef from cows eating bone based-feeds or chickens fed with animal food, they share concerns with others worried about the beef issue.
WomenLink, along with other cooperatives and about 1,500 civic groups, are planning to hold a protest on the beef issue at Gwanghwamun Plaza in downtown Seoul, Thursday. ``It's time we think about all people's health and their rights to choose. We have children at schools possibly eating such meat in the future and we won't accept that,'' a spokeswoman said.
bjs@koreatimes.co.kr
