Seoul City Conducts Residual Pesticide Inspection on Summer Kimchi Ingredient Agricultural Products

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced on the 22nd that it conducted residual pesticide inspections on kimchi raw agricultural products sold in wholesale markets and large supermarkets from January to June in the first half of the year to ensure the safety of kimchi, which is mainly consumed during the hot summer season.

Seoul City inspected 438 cases of 15 items including yeolmu (young radish), cucumber, eotgari, radish, buchu (garlic chives), kkaennip (perilla leaves), and red pepper powder, which are raw materials for summer kimchi such as yeolmu (water) kimchi, cucumber sobagi, and kkaennip kimchi. As a result, 2 cases of buchu and 1 case of wild kkaennip exceeded the residual pesticide tolerance standards and were promptly discarded.

The agricultural products subject to inspection for kimchi ingredients include chili peppers, red pepper powder, carrots, wild kkaennip, garlic, radish, minari (water dropwort), napa cabbage, ginger, onions, eotgari, yeolmu, cucumber, buchu, and green onions.

To block the distribution of products that failed the residual pesticide standards, Seoul City quickly notified related information including inspection results to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service, producers, distributors, and relevant administrative agencies.

Shin Yong-seung, Director of the Seoul Institute of Health and Environment, said, “We inspected residual pesticides in summer kimchi raw agricultural products, which many citizens consume to stimulate their appetite during the hot summer, and detected agricultural products exceeding the standards. We will continue to do our best to ensure the distribution of safe agricultural products.”

Residual pesticides in agricultural products naturally decrease over time or can be significantly reduced by soaking in water for a certain period and repeatedly washing under running water. Detailed related information can be found at Seoul City Food Safety Management or the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s Food Safety Korea website.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.