Dog Meat Now As Fast Food

Controversy is being built up concerning the production of the instant “dog stew,” which can be cooked in a microwave. Some citizens and civic groups are even appealing to the government.

According to the 31st press lease by the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA), calls and e-mails in protest have been pouring in after the press introduced the instant dog stew on the 30th, which was developed and is being marketed by the National Dog Meat Association (NDMA). The protesters said, “It’s like allowing the sale of dog meat, which is prohibited under the law.”

A Kim left a message on the electronic bulletin board at KFDA’s web site (www.kfda.go.kr) saying, “I don’t get it. The law still prohibits it. But they produce and market the dog stew as an instant food.” One anonymous web-user snapped, “Dog meat is not legally classified as edible yet. How can they make an instant food of it? It will damage the status of our country which has been raised by the World Cup.”

In the meanwhile, the Korea Animal Protection Society (KAPS) (Chairperson Kum Sun-ran) strongly railed, “Along with other animal protection organizations, we will file a claim with the Prosecutor’s Office accusing the KFDA of negligence of duties.”

As the controversy is getting widespread, the KFDA called in the officials of the NDMA on 31st to investigate the circumstances around the production.

One KFDA official explained, “The sale of dog meat is a matter involving many ministries. It’s kind of a pan-ministerial matter. We will first find out in what way the dog meat is processed for sale. Then we will take necessary steps.”

In response, the NDMA’s chairman Park Sung-soo replied, “The meat and soup of the dog stew has been sold separately at restaurants packed in plastic bags. We just put them together in the plastic containers. It’s different from those kinds of instant food sold at convenient stores.”

Currently the law does not classify the dog as one of the poultry, and killing of a dog for human consumption is not allowed. Therefore, production, circulation and marketing of it in any form are prohibited now.

Ho-Gab Lee gdt@donga.com