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South Korean restaurants urged to shun China-made kimchi due to hygiene concerns
- South Koreans eat so much kimchi that producers are unable to meet domestic demand, with some restaurants relying on Chinese imports
- But as scrutiny of Chinese food imports intensifies, one industry group hopes a certification programme will spur eateries to buy local kimchi
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Months after a video depicting an unclothed man working at a Chinese kimchi factory went viral in South Korea, people in the country have begun looking more carefully into Chinese food imports before they end up on the dining table.
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Kim Ji-sook, the owner of a small eatery in Seoul, said since the video spread in March, some of her customers had started questioning about the origin of the kimchi she serves in her restaurant.
“I don’t lie; I tell them our kimchi was produced in China,” she said. “But after hearing my answer, they don’t eat the kimchi.”
The trend is causing an increase in food waste at her eatery, she added.
While South Korea makes most of its own kimchi – a traditional dish made of fermented vegetables – it isn’t enough to meet local demand for the staple.
The country imports about 300,000 tons of kimchi annually from China, with most of this going to restaurants.
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The price of imported Chinese kimchi per kilogram is about one-third of locally produced kimchi, making it hard to turn down for pandemic-hit restaurant owners desperate to cut costs.
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