Going 'China-Free' Cannot Solve Problems

It is shocking enough to find a presumed rodent part in a ``national snack" loved by Koreans for the past 37 years. More surprising is the maker of the shrimp chips, called ``Saewookkang," has hushed up the matter for nearly a month. Most astonishing is that Nongshim Co., a giant food company, has not even recalled all of its products in question, making all kinds of clumsy excuses.

All this can only happen in a country where businesses put corporate profits and images over consumers' health and safety ― and get away with it.

Sadder still, the Korea Food and Drug Administration could not identify the suspicious substance and made the announcement based merely on its presumption. ``Does it make much difference whether it was the shred of mouse head or something else?'' said a KFDA official without even a blush. Can anyone believe this remark came from an agency whose foremost responsibility is supposed to be to ensure food safety and public health?

Nongshim emphasizes the controversial snack was semi-processed in China, where the standards for food safety are far lower than in Korea. This is another lame excuse that can never justify its mistakes, because the final responsibility should always rest with the supplier of the finished product.

It's true China has become the source of various poor-quality food and other products, since it emerged as the ``global factory" armed with cheap, abundant labor and raw materials. That fact, however, only stresses the need for global firms with manufacturing plants in China to redouble their quality control efforts by stationing supervisors in local plants, as many U.S. and Japanese companies do.

Food safety has long surfaced as an agenda item of top priority at strategic talks among major powers. Particularly for a country like Korea, which has to rely on imports for much of its food demands, it is increasingly important to clarify the place of origin, including not just where the raw material came from but also where it was processed and semi-processed. This should be done not later but now, as there are at least 10 more China-made food products on the market suspected to be contaminated, as Jane Han of The Korea Times reported Thursday.

Come to think of it, however, going ``China-free" could hardly be the answer, in part because Korea is one of the three largest importers of Chinese food and because, as always, fundamental problems lie at home, not abroad.

President Lee ought to hurry to drastically enhance food administration by unifying all related jobs, now dispersed at several agencies, which are more often than not engaged in turf wars amid squeaky teamwork. Beefing up manpower and upgrading the status of KFDA could be one answer, too.

Until the government and businesses do their homework, consumers will most likely have to defend themselves. The domestic food makers, even the affiliates of conglomerates, have often caused a social stir with substandard products. Korean consumers could learn some lessons from their Japanese counterparts, who boycotted a maker that took up 80 percent of the market share and drove it out of business.