All Lunar New Year Ritual and Gift Products Distributed in Gyeonggi-do Are 'Safe'

A researcher from the Gyeonggi-do Institute of Health and Environment is inspecting the safety of Lunar New Year ritual items and gift products. Photo by Gyeonggi-do Institute of Health and Environment

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] All distribution products for Seollal ancestral rites and gifts in Gyeonggi Province have been confirmed to be safe.

The Gyeonggi-do Institute of Health and Environment announced on the 19th that after conducting intensive inspections on 452 items of processed foods, health functional foods, and agricultural and marine products, which are widely sold for ancestral rites and gifts ahead of Seollal, all were confirmed to be "safe."

The inspection was conducted on products collected and submitted for testing by officials from the province and city/county districts from February 3 to 18 at medium and large supermarkets, agricultural and marine wholesale markets, instant sales manufacturing businesses, and food service establishments within the province, as well as products directly collected by the Institute of Health and Environment. The inspection items included priority hazardous substances, heavy metals, hygiene indicator bacteria and food poisoning bacteria, pesticide residues, and radioactive materials.

The main inspection items were ▲ processed foods (223 items) such as edible oils, snacks (Hangwa), and noodles ▲ agricultural products (205 items) such as apples, pears, spinach, and mushrooms ▲ marine products (24 items) such as pollock, shrimp, and squid.

The key inspection items included benzo[a]pyrene, total aflatoxins, heavy metals, acid value, Staphylococcus aureus and other food poisoning bacteria, pesticide residues, and radioactive substances, which are hazardous substances among individual standards by food type.

An official from the Institute of Health and Environment said, "We conducted rapid inspections to ensure food safety so that residents can have a safe Seollal holiday," and added, "We will continue to conduct pre-inspections on foods with increased consumption during specific periods such as holidays and promote the results so that residents can purchase food with confidence."

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