[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Metallic powder exceeding the standard was detected in one natural spice product distributed in Chungnam.
The Chungnam Provincial Institute of Health and Environment announced on the 3rd that a natural spice product exceeding the standard was found as a result of inspecting metallic foreign substances in powder and pill products recently.
Typically, metallic foreign substances mainly occur in powder and pill products that undergo grinding processes, and the domestic standard requires that they must not be mixed in amounts exceeding 10.0mg/kg and the size must be less than 2mm.
However, the amount of metallic powder detected in the product exceeded the standard at 19.6mg/kg. The size was investigated to be less than 2mm.
Previously, the Provincial Institute of Health and Environment introduced the automatic rotating metal foreign substance detector for the first time nationwide in 2019 and conducted 63 inspections in 2019, 261 in 2020, 216 last year, and 23 this year (as of April).
During this process, the number of times metallic foreign substances were detected exceeding the standard totaled 19 cases.
By year, 2 cases in 2019, 12 cases in 2020, and 5 cases last year were found to exceed the standard.
The types of non-compliant food products were 2 cases of other processed products in 2019; 7 cases of other processed products, and 1 case each of fruit and vegetable processed products, other seafood processed products, insect processed foods, red pepper powder, and Cheonggukjang in 2020; and 5 cases of other processed products last year.
The metallic powder mixed in these products was all less than 2mm in size, but the detected amounts ranged from 12.9mg/kg to 173.9mg/kg, exceeding the standard by up to 17.4 times, explained the Provincial Institute of Health and Environment.
Non-compliant products are being recalled and disposed of to protect consumers, and related information can be found on the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s ‘Food Safety Nara’ website.
A representative of the Provincial Institute of Health and Environment said, “Since April 2020, powder foods with grinding processes have been required to remove metallic powder using magnets, but products exceeding the standard have been continuously confirmed. The Provincial Institute of Health and Environment plans to expand inspections of powder and pill products to strengthen food safety.”
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