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Korea's food industry is suffering a crisis of public confidence, sparked earlier this year by a few cases of inedible materials found in food products and inflamed more recently by the debate over U.S. beef imports and outbreaks of bird flu. Now with summer approaching and temperatures climbing, concerns are growing over the risk of food poisoning caused by consumption of foodstuffs past their shelf life. Retailers are responding with stricter in-store measures to prevent accidents even if it means falling sales, and manufacturers are spending heavily on improving safety precautions.
¡ß Closer eye kept on perishables
Hyundai Department Store sharply decreased the circulation period of "gimbab" this month, no longer selling rice rolls more than two hours old. The previous shelf life as recommended by the Korea Food and Drug Administration was seven hours. The popular snack, made from a variety of vegetables, is often seen as causing food poisoning. Hyundai also cut the shelf life for sandwiches from ten hours to four and stopped offering takeout sushi. Hong Jeong-ran, chief of the department store's product headquarters, says the tightened circulation periods are stricter than KFDA standards because a single safety incident could deflate sales and wreak havoc on the company image.
Lotte Department Store is conducting extensive food safety inspections from this month to the end of September. Products that spoil easily are under extra attention. Certain sushi rolls, ark shells, spinach, salmon salad, seasoned tofu and spicy raw crabs have been discontinued, and raw fish, sushi and gimbab are no longer available as takeout. If a customer insists on having an item packaged for takeout, the food is prepared in a frozen packet with a sticker saying it must be eaten within two hours.
Shinsegae Department Store is making daily checks of the food poisoning index released by the KFDA and passing it on to safety inspectors at each branch. On hot days when the index is up, customers are advised through stickers and other means of the shorter shelf life of cooked and takeout food. Last summer Shinsegae suspended sales of minced raw beef and fresh cream; this year it has added sushi, crab meat and shrimp to the list, starting this month.
¡ß More investment in manufacturing safety
Many food manufacturers fear that a single mistake could strike them down. Since the discovery of a knife blade in a can of tuna in March, Dongwon F&B has seen its sales tumble 30 percent. It has spent W15 billion to rectify the problem, strengthening its factories' safety facilities and improving its production system. In September it will launch an "open factory" project, allowing consumers to visit factories to see the manufacturing process.
The bakery brand Tous Les Jours, run by CJ Food System, has strengthened its Cold Chain System which supplies partially-cooked bread to branch stores, making sure the bread stays at -18 degrees Celsius during delivery. Pulmuone Health & Living is applying a much stricter standard for shelf life and heavy metal content for products in its Natural House Organic health food brand than is required by law. The shelf life of its products is 12-18 months compared to the typical 24-36 months, and it only uses ingredients containing less than one tenth of the permissible levels of pesticides and heavy metals.
To improve safety infrastructure and systems, CJ CheilJedang plans to invest W13 billion every year from now on. Nine billion will go to adding automation facilities and 3 billion to purchasing metal and x-ray detectors. But while these voluntary preventive efforts by companies are good, says Choi Sang-ho, a professor of food science and biotechnology at Seoul National University, what's also necessary is systematic government oversight.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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