Seoul to toughen dioxin checks on imported pork byproducts

SEOUL, Dec. 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korean quarantine authorities will check all imports of pork by-products for dioxin following the recent discovery of the cancer-causing toxin in Irish meat, officials said Thursday.

The move comes after the government on Monday halted quarantine inspections on
imports of Irish pork and by-products amid reports that Dublin had found a much
higher than permissible level of dioxin in the meat.
"Quarantine inspection rules will be revised so all imported meat byproducts and
bones will be checked for dioxin," the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries said.
Currently, the local quarantine authorites check imports of pork and by-products
for dioxin through random sampling.
Dioxin, if taken in large quantities, can damage the human immune system and
cause cancer in humans. Using present technology, testing can take up to 15 days
and 1.8 million won (US$1,313).
The ministry confirmed that 335 tons of pork and by-products from Ireland were
imported this year with 90 tons being meat by-products produced after Sept. 1.
Meat produced after this date has the greatest risk of contamination, it said.
Irish authorities said late last week that they found 1.5 picograms of the
cancer-causing substance in pork fat and ordered a full recall of all products.
One picogram is equivalent to one trillionth of a gram.