AlaskaDenise
In Memoriam
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200611/kt2006112720035411990.htm
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
<TABLE cellSpacing=6 cellPadding=0 width=200 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#ebebeb>
Rep. Kang Ki-kab of the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party (DLP), left, looks at U.S. beef, in which a nail-sized bone fragment was detected, assisted by a staffer at the National Veterinary Research & Quarantine Service (NVRQS) at its headquarters in Yongjong Island off Inchon, Friday. / Yonhap </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The``War of foods???? is intensifying across the world as farm products freely cross the borders, diseases spread and the security of food supply emerges as a hot issue in this era of globalization.
U.S. beef imported by South Korea were sent back to America last week because of some ``troublesome???? materials related to the mad cow disease, while South Korean chickens faced an import ban by Japan due to a suspected avian influenza (AI).
Foods Without Border
Officials in Seoul said last Friday that the government decided not to allow the first batch of beef shipped from the United States to be sold in South Korea as a bone fragment has been detected in a package.
A total of 8.9 tons of U.S. beef arrived in South Korea in about 700 separate packages, the first shipment to the country since Seoul lifted its three-year ban on American beef following a report of mad cow disease.
Officials at the National Veterinary Research & Quarantine Service (NVRQS) said it has advised the government to destroy the beef or send it back to the United States, although it did not ask for another import ban on all American beef.
One of the veterinary officials said the bone fragment detected is not a specified risk material (SRM) causing harm to human beings but the authorities decided not to allow the sale of beef in accordance with the agreement between South Korea and the United States.
Under the agreement signed in January, a total ban is inevitable when SRMs _ brains, bowels and bone marrow _ are detected. But South Korea is unlikely to renew the ban on all American products from the other 35 slaughterhouses.
In the meantime, the anxiety of South Korean poultry farmers soared late last week as bird flu caused by virulent H5N1 virus reoccurred after a three-year lull in a provincial area about 250 kilometers south of Seoul.
Unlike mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), bird flu does not spread to consumers who eat infected chickens or ducks as long as they cook them at 75 degrees centigrade or higher. Avian flu is spread from direct contact with infected poultry.
However, Tokyo announced a temporary ban on all South Korean-exported chickens on Friday before a detailed examination has been completed to confirm the outbreak of avian flu.
War at Table
As the leaders of the world??s biggest economies are busy discussing free trade in agricultural goods at the World Trade Organization (WTO), consumers are also stepping up their resistance to protect their ``food sovereignty???? at the dining table.
Fears of human infection by mad cow disease, concentrated in Britain in the past decade, have been the bone of contention in trade: the European Union (EU) partially removed its 10-year ban on British beef last May, but recall went on even afterwards.
Like South Korea, Japan also lifted its ban on U.S. beef late last year. But fears are not fading away easily among consumers. Imports have stopped and started due to problems.
Beside fears of human infection, such as mad cow disease and bird flu, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are another source of trade disputes between countries, especially between the EU and the United States.
Lobbied by large manufacturers, economic powers such as the U.S. can appear indifferent to warnings from scientists that people who eat products infected with BSE can develop the incurable degenerative neurological disorder known as Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease.
GMO producers in America are likely to seek ways to expand sales of their crops to the Asian markets as the EU has prohibited the import of all the genetically modified crops since late 1990s.
International disputes surrounding foodstuffs are sometimes initiated and worsened by political motives. Russia has engaged in a confrontation with increasingly pro-U.S. Georgia, by banning imports of wine and water from the country last spring.
Russia also said last week that it would review its import of meat produced in Europe from next year. The EU complained that the Russian move was designed to seek concessions on other issues with the EU.
Washington, in the meantime, demanded the lift of an import ban on U.S. beef to South Korea, a precondition ahead of negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
Experts point out frictions would further deepen between the advanced countries and the developing and underdeveloped countries, as trade of agricultural and marine products increase.
`From Farm to Table??
Food security is not only an international affair but also a domestic problem.
Last year, Chinese kimchi imported into South Korea came under fire after it was found to contain parasite eggs. However, it was later found that local kimchi also had parasite eggs.
Chinese fish also sparked a jitter here as some samples checked by the inspectors were found to contain malachite green, a cancer-causing agent used as a preservative. But it was also found that South Koreans raising eels use the harmful material at home.
Last month, lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties grilled officials from the Korea Food & Drug Administration (KFDA), which concealed a report that some 1.8 percent of the domestic farm products contained more heavy metal than allowed.
According to the report, rice, beans, potatoes and spinach from not only abandoned mine areas but those of the general farmland were contaminated by harmful heavy metal, such as lead and cadmium.
The Citizens?? Coalition for Food Security, a nongovernmental organization, said the safety of foodstuffs, domestic or imported products, should be taken care of by specialists ``from farm to table???? in a consumer-oriented manner.
``A scientific and consumer-oriented management of food security should be introduced in earnest to protect the food sovereignty of the people,???? said Chang Un-yong, a public relations manager of the organization.
.
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
<TABLE cellSpacing=6 cellPadding=0 width=200 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#ebebeb>
Rep. Kang Ki-kab of the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party (DLP), left, looks at U.S. beef, in which a nail-sized bone fragment was detected, assisted by a staffer at the National Veterinary Research & Quarantine Service (NVRQS) at its headquarters in Yongjong Island off Inchon, Friday. / Yonhap </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The``War of foods???? is intensifying across the world as farm products freely cross the borders, diseases spread and the security of food supply emerges as a hot issue in this era of globalization.
U.S. beef imported by South Korea were sent back to America last week because of some ``troublesome???? materials related to the mad cow disease, while South Korean chickens faced an import ban by Japan due to a suspected avian influenza (AI).
Foods Without Border
Officials in Seoul said last Friday that the government decided not to allow the first batch of beef shipped from the United States to be sold in South Korea as a bone fragment has been detected in a package.
A total of 8.9 tons of U.S. beef arrived in South Korea in about 700 separate packages, the first shipment to the country since Seoul lifted its three-year ban on American beef following a report of mad cow disease.
Officials at the National Veterinary Research & Quarantine Service (NVRQS) said it has advised the government to destroy the beef or send it back to the United States, although it did not ask for another import ban on all American beef.
One of the veterinary officials said the bone fragment detected is not a specified risk material (SRM) causing harm to human beings but the authorities decided not to allow the sale of beef in accordance with the agreement between South Korea and the United States.
Under the agreement signed in January, a total ban is inevitable when SRMs _ brains, bowels and bone marrow _ are detected. But South Korea is unlikely to renew the ban on all American products from the other 35 slaughterhouses.
In the meantime, the anxiety of South Korean poultry farmers soared late last week as bird flu caused by virulent H5N1 virus reoccurred after a three-year lull in a provincial area about 250 kilometers south of Seoul.
Unlike mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), bird flu does not spread to consumers who eat infected chickens or ducks as long as they cook them at 75 degrees centigrade or higher. Avian flu is spread from direct contact with infected poultry.
However, Tokyo announced a temporary ban on all South Korean-exported chickens on Friday before a detailed examination has been completed to confirm the outbreak of avian flu.
War at Table
As the leaders of the world??s biggest economies are busy discussing free trade in agricultural goods at the World Trade Organization (WTO), consumers are also stepping up their resistance to protect their ``food sovereignty???? at the dining table.
Fears of human infection by mad cow disease, concentrated in Britain in the past decade, have been the bone of contention in trade: the European Union (EU) partially removed its 10-year ban on British beef last May, but recall went on even afterwards.
Like South Korea, Japan also lifted its ban on U.S. beef late last year. But fears are not fading away easily among consumers. Imports have stopped and started due to problems.
Beside fears of human infection, such as mad cow disease and bird flu, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are another source of trade disputes between countries, especially between the EU and the United States.
Lobbied by large manufacturers, economic powers such as the U.S. can appear indifferent to warnings from scientists that people who eat products infected with BSE can develop the incurable degenerative neurological disorder known as Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease.
GMO producers in America are likely to seek ways to expand sales of their crops to the Asian markets as the EU has prohibited the import of all the genetically modified crops since late 1990s.
International disputes surrounding foodstuffs are sometimes initiated and worsened by political motives. Russia has engaged in a confrontation with increasingly pro-U.S. Georgia, by banning imports of wine and water from the country last spring.
Russia also said last week that it would review its import of meat produced in Europe from next year. The EU complained that the Russian move was designed to seek concessions on other issues with the EU.
Washington, in the meantime, demanded the lift of an import ban on U.S. beef to South Korea, a precondition ahead of negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
Experts point out frictions would further deepen between the advanced countries and the developing and underdeveloped countries, as trade of agricultural and marine products increase.
`From Farm to Table??
Food security is not only an international affair but also a domestic problem.
Last year, Chinese kimchi imported into South Korea came under fire after it was found to contain parasite eggs. However, it was later found that local kimchi also had parasite eggs.
Chinese fish also sparked a jitter here as some samples checked by the inspectors were found to contain malachite green, a cancer-causing agent used as a preservative. But it was also found that South Koreans raising eels use the harmful material at home.
Last month, lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties grilled officials from the Korea Food & Drug Administration (KFDA), which concealed a report that some 1.8 percent of the domestic farm products contained more heavy metal than allowed.
According to the report, rice, beans, potatoes and spinach from not only abandoned mine areas but those of the general farmland were contaminated by harmful heavy metal, such as lead and cadmium.
The Citizens?? Coalition for Food Security, a nongovernmental organization, said the safety of foodstuffs, domestic or imported products, should be taken care of by specialists ``from farm to table???? in a consumer-oriented manner.
``A scientific and consumer-oriented management of food security should be introduced in earnest to protect the food sovereignty of the people,???? said Chang Un-yong, a public relations manager of the organization.
.