The dispute between Korea and Japan over which produced kimchi ended in an all-out Korean victory, Yang Sung-chul, the Korean Ambassador to the U.S. told Korean Washington, DC correspondents in an informal talk Monday (local time).
Ambassador Yang stated that at the 20th Codex subcommittee meeting for processed and dried vegetables held in Washington, DC from September 11 through 15, the international standardization of the fermented cabbages and turnips was decided based on the Korean kimchi.
The ambassador added that this will then be reported at the Codex general assembly and then go through a formal process called ratification to finally acquire the Codex certificate for Korea's most popular side dish.
If kimchi has earned the Codex certification, it will be the first Korean processed food to do so.
Until now, Korea and Japan had fought each other to get the Codex certificate. The subcommittee reflected most of Korea's arguments in the standards to consider the added ingredients, the acidity degree and the amount of water in the kimchi.
Gaining the Codex certificate has the advantages of increasing the trust of consumers, widening the scope of the export market and helping manufacturers receive the full price for the food.
It was therefore expected to contribute greatly to the increase of income for farmers, the agricultural attache of the embassy Lee Su-hwa said. Last year Korea's kimchi exports reached about US$ 100 million or 5% of the total US$ 2 billion imported agricultural products market.
Meanwhile, Korean ginseng will be discussed in the next Codex meeting that will be held in 2002, and Korea will fight for the lead position in the international ginseng market.
[Yonhap]
2000.09.26
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Newsdesk