[Anchor]
As we previously reported, cabbages soaked in a Class 1 carcinogen have been distributed in China. With a large volume of Chinese kimchi imported into South Korea, consumer anxiety is mounting.
Reporter Park Ha-jeong investigates just how dangerous this solution is.
[Reporter]
At a supermarket in Seoul, kimchi is being sold at a special discount price. It was manufactured in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China.
It is difficult to trace where the cabbages used as ingredients were cultivated.
[Importer Representative: It is indeed Chinese kimchi, and it was manufactured in an HACCP-certified (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) facility.]
Of the 194,400 tons of kimchi imported this year, 99.9% came from China.
Anxiety has spread to South Korea following late revelations that cabbages in Hebei Province, China, were soaked in a formaldehyde solution to maintain freshness before being distributed.
[Kim Tae-young: I am going to avoid eating kimchi altogether when going to restaurants. Almost all restaurant kimchi is assumed to be Chinese.]
[Lee Eun-young: At least for the time being, if the origin is labeled as Chinese cabbage, I think I will avoid purchasing it.]
Formaldehyde exists as a colorless and transparent gas at room temperature, and when dissolved in water, it becomes a formalin solution.
Used in the manufacturing of adhesives and preservatives, it was classified as a Class 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer under the World Health Organization in 2004.
The causal relationship between human exposure and cancer has been confirmed when formaldehyde is "inhaled" in gaseous form.
[Kwon Soon-chan / Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital: The evidence for carcinogenicity is based on occupational inhalation exposure, specifically regarding nasopharyngeal cancer and leukemia, particularly myeloid leukemia.]
While the carcinogenicity of ingesting formaldehyde has not yet been established, that does not mean it is safe.
Ingesting a high concentration of formalin at once can cause burns to the mucous membranes of the mouth or esophagus, or lead to shock.
There are also reports that an adult could die from consuming 30 milliliters of a 37% formalin solution.
[Choi Yoon-ju / Senior Researcher at the Cancer Prevention Division, National Cancer Center: (Adding it to food) itself can be described as a problem. However, through processes such as removing cabbage roots, washing them in water, or boiling them, the substance can evaporate, which may alter its health effects.]
Until it is determined how much formaldehyde was used in the problematic Chinese cabbages and whether they were exported to South Korea, consumer anxiety in the country is unlikely to subside easily.
(Video by Jung Yong-hwa | Design by Kim Han-gil | VJ by Shin So-young | Video Source: Chinese WeLeeChiGe Douyin@)
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