Ginseng and Kimchi to Become Subject to Standards

That most ancient of cure-alls, ginseng, along with that most Korean of foods, kimchi, as well as soy sauce, are to follow what the EU has been doing for decades with its most famous products - they are to become subject to strict standards.

The Ministry of Forestry and Agriculture introduced this idea to the international food standards organization, CODEX, after meeting with industry specialists on May 25. In the case of the highly profitable ginseng root, they have also asked for the input of the Korea Food Research Institute to design a system able to weed out sub-standard ginseng sold as 'Korean ginseng' on the international market as well as here at home. Korean ginseng, as opposed to other species of the root, is known to have superior characteristics which make it highly sought-after.

The Ministry will soon determine a common standard and submit this to the 20th convening of CODEX to be held in Washington this coming Septmember. The CODEX standard is a standard set for food products by the FAO and the WHO Food Standard Program first setup in 1962.

by Hong Byung-ki