South Korea must increase safety checks on seafood imports

Consumers in South Korea are eating more seafood than ever, but the testing on imported products is deemed as insufficient and the government needs to step up on testing.

The agriculture ministry currently tests around 28% of imported goods randomly to check whether they meet food safety standards. The ministry plans to up the number of samples by 30% in 2010.

Additionally, the ministry will test increasing amounts of imported seafood products for antibiotics from the current 32 to 44 in 2010.

South Koreans are eating increasing amounts of seafood, but they doubt if imported seafood - which makes up 36% of all fishery products sold in 2006 - are safe for human consumption, said the National Assembly Research Service on Wednesday (Dec 16).

The think tank said the food safety monitoring system was flawed because the agriculture ministry allegedly exaggerates the number of products it had tested. The institute also recommends that the government act immediately on food safety scares rather than only taking preemptive safety measures.

A survey conducted by the agriculture ministry earlier this year found that 62% of Koreans distrust the food safety of imported seafood products.

South Korea imported 10 times more seafood in 2007 than in 1988 due to an increase in demand and a decline in domestic production, according to a research by the service.

South Korea imports seafood from about 80 countries worldwide, with 56% of the imports coming from China, Russia and Vietnam. The service also noted that about 80% of seafood products worldwide come from countries with relatively poor hygiene and food safety standards.

Local consumers eat more raw fish, such as sashimi, than people in many other countries. Therefore they are more sensitive about the safety of imported seafood products, said the service.