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By Yoon Ja-young
A series of food poisoning incidents at restaurants that sell gimbap are making consumers shun the staple Korean dish.
Gimbap, or seaweed rice rolls that come with various ingredients such as vegetables, eggs and processed meat, is one of the most easily accessible food in the country, but food poisoning incidents have made headlines recently.
Over 130 victims filed a class action suit against a gimbap franchise following an incident in which 276 people who ate gimbap at two of its branches in Bundang District, Seongnam City between July 29 and Aug. 2 showed food poisoning symptoms. Around 40 of them were hospitalized for treatment.
Another food poisoning incident occurred in Paju between Aug. 19 and 22, when 27 customers from a gimbap restaurant got sick, and most recently in Goyang on Aug. 23, in which 29 suffered symptoms such as fever and diarrhea. Among them, a female in her 20s died two days later.
Park Ji-yeon, a mom of two kids in Seocho District, Seoul, said she is refraining from buying gimbap. "I bought gimbap at least twice a week as a snack for my sons as I think it is nutritious, much better than cookies. I don't think I will buy it until the weather gets cooler," she said.
A gimbap restaurant owner in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, said sales at her store have dropped by nearly half due to food poisoning news. "Even the customers who buy gimbap show their concern. I am so angry that all gimbap restaurants are suffering despite having abided by hygiene rules."
Salmonella bacteria behind food poisoning
According to Seongnam City, health authorities concluded that the food poisoning in Bundang was due to salmonella bacteria, which was found in 28 of the patients. Salmonella bacteria, which is usually found in intestines of poultry and other animals, leads to symptoms such as diarrhea, fever and severe stomach cramps in human. It is the most common cause of food poisoning in the summer as around 37 degrees Celsius is the optimum temperature for the bacteria's growth.
Food and Drug Safety Minister Kim Gang-lip said cross-contamination seems to be the cause though it hasn't been confirmed yet. "After handling ingredients such as cracking eggs or slicing meat, one should thoroughly wash hands with soap," he said.
COVID-19 behind increasing food poisoning?
Some estimate that the increase in food poisoning is related with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hankook Ilbo, the sister paper of The Korea Times, reported that officials in charge of food hygiene at local governments and community health centers around the country had to concentrate on COVID-19 quarantine work, which led to lapses in hygiene monitoring. They could only selectively examine restaurants that had hygiene issues reported. One of the districts in Seoul, for example, checked 1,830 restaurants in 2019, but it checked only around 220 restaurants in the first half of this year, according to Hankook Ilbo. Following the food poisoning incidents, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety ordered local governments to implement overall inspection on restaurants that sell gimbap.
Choi Jeong-min, a gastroenterology professor at Inje University Sanggye Paik Hospital, said there should be more attention paid to hygiene the kitchen.
"At home, knives, cutting boards as well as ingredients should be washed with running water before use. Those utensil should be used separately for vegetables, meat and fish," he said.
He also stressed preparing appropriate amounts of food so as to avoid leftovers. "If there are leftovers, they should be kept in the refrigerator. In the case of porridge or soup, boil them one more time before storing them."
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