Food safety issues in industrialization of traditional Korean foods

Abstract

Consumer concerns over food safety are ever increasing in Korea, and consumer demand for expanding the right to know is becoming an important challenge for the food industry. Consumers generally believe that traditional foods are safe. Most traditional foods in Korea are produced under varying scales, and food safety risk management and risk assessment are conducted primarily by the government. According to the result of risk assessment, safety regulations and standards of traditional foods (e.g. fermented soybean products, fermented fish products, Kimchi) are established. In this paper, safety concerns confronted during the industrialization of traditional foods and related studies to identify and minimize the hazards are discussed. Research results related to possible contamination with aflatoxin in fermented soybean products, biogenic amines and secondary amines in Kimchi, and biogenic amines in fermented fish products are mainly reviewed. It is suggested that more national risk analysis experts and related database are needed. The manufacturing processes of traditional foods need to be standardized and harmonized with international standards, such as CODEX.