South Korea Reports Increase in Non-Compliant Agricultural and Food Products from China Due to Pesticide Residues and Other Issues

According to data released by the South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, there were a total of 75 cases of non-compliant agricultural and food products originating from China from April to June 2023, representing a 23% increase compared to the same period in 2022. These non-compliant products include processed food, agricultural and forestry products, and aquatic products, with 39, 33, and 3 cases respectively. The main reasons for non-compliance were pesticide residues, preservatives, and banned coloring agents.

I. Types of Non-Compliant Products

The non-compliant products in the aforementioned cases include 13 specific types, such as vegetables and their products (22 cases), condiments (10 cases), health food (8 cases), fruits and their products (8 cases), candy (8 cases), and tea (6 cases). The specific non-compliant vegetable products include fresh/frozen carrots, broccoli, pickled vegetables, sauerkraut, etc., while the non-compliant condiments are mainly concentrated in Sichuan pepper products.

II. Specific Reasons for Non-Compliance

The main reasons for non-compliance in the aforementioned cases were pesticide residues exceeding the standard, with a total of 38 cases involving 6 types of products, including vegetables and their products, fruits and their products, tea, condiments, etc. Specifically, 24 types of pesticides were detected, such as fenbutatin oxide, abamectin, triadimefon, chlorpyrifos, cyazofamid, fipronil, propiconazole, imazalil, etc. Secondly, 13 cases involved food additives exceeding the limit or used outside the scope of regulations, mainly related to preservatives such as sulfur dioxide, sorbic acid, benzoic acid, propionic acid, potassium sorbate, etc., involving vegetables and their products, health food, candy, etc. There were also 8 cases of non-compliance due to the detection of banned tar colorants (edible red colorants 102 and 2), involving candy, ice cream, vegetable crisps, etc.