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The discovery of a deadly carcinogenic substance in imported nuts has raised the alarm over the reliability of safety checks by customs officials.
The Korea Consumer Protection Board (KCPB) said Friday that according to tests on 11 kinds of imported nuts, roasted peanuts imported from Vietnam contained eight times more aflatoxin than the permissible level.
Aflatoxin is produced by fungi and is categorized as the most potent naturally occurring carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an affiliate of the World Health Organization, the KCPB said.
The consumer watchdog urged authorities to thoroughly check the safety of imported nuts. Korea imported some 35,000 tons of peanuts in 2003.
(Son Jeong-mi, jmson@chosun.com )
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