Report: Imported Chinese Kimchi Contains More Lead Than Korean

It was found that Kimchi imported from China contains three times higher amount of lead than that of Korea on average. These days, Korea imports an increasing amount of Kimchi from China.

According to results made public on September 25 by the Seoul Institute of Health and Environment and asked for by Rep. Ko Kyung-hwa of the Grand National Party, a member of the Health and Welfare Committee of the National Assembly, the average amount of lead found in 10 kinds of Chinese Kimchi sold online is 0.302ppm (the amount of lead by the milligram found in one kilogram of Kimchi).

That figure is about three times higher than the 0.11ppm average amount of lead in Korean Kimchi. “A” company’s Kimchi had 0.57ppm of lead, and “B” company’s contained 0.51ppm, both are five times higher than of local Kimchi.

Currently there is no standard for permissible amount of heavy metal for Kimchi. But the tolerable amount of heavy metal for fruits and vegetables is under 0.3ppm.

Rep. Ko said, “It is urgent to set the standard amount of heavy metal for Kimchi that Koreans eat with almost every meal. And it should be mandatory that restaurants and feeding facilities make the origin of their Kimchi known.”

According to Korea Customs Service statistics, Kimchi imported from China soared from 393 tons in 2001 to 1,051 tons in 2002, to 28,700 tons in 2003, to 72,000 tons in 2004.

taewon_ha@donga.com