March 21, 2008

South Korea to investigate Chinese factory for tainted crackers 

South Korea's food protection agency said Thursday (March 20, 2008) it will send a fact-finding team to a Chinese factory that produced a popular snack food found to contain a suspected rat's head.

The Korea Food and Drug Administration will send investigators to the factory in Qingdao in eastern China, which performs initial production for shrimp crackers sold by South Korea's leading processed food company Nongshim, said Choi Jong-dong, a KFDA official.

China's reputation as an exporting nation has taken a beating in the past year after a series of food safety lapses exposed shoddy manufacturing practices among some.

Nongshim has apologized for the incident and has began recalling the snack in South Korea, company spokesman Hyun Seok said.

The snack, with annual sales volume reaching US$59 million, has been one of the most popular in South Korea since it first went on sale in 1971.

The issue was brought to light when KFDA announced a foreign substance believed to be a rat's head was found in the snack. The food agency said it suspected it was accidentally introduced in Nongshim's China factory.

Choi said the KFDA investigation found the company's South Korean plant, where the manufacturing process is completed, is equipped with facilities to prevent the entrance of rodents and insects.

KFDA has no knowledge of whether the Chinese plant has similar equipment. Nongshim spokesman Hyun, however, said the Chinese factory had similar facilities as its South Korean plant.