This image is unrelated to the article. [Getty Images Bank]
This image is unrelated to the article. [Getty Images Bank]

Authorities are stepping up safety inspections of apples, pears, grapes and other produce used for chuseok ritual offerings and gifts ahead of the holiday. Last year's pre-chuseok probe found 9 of 900 sampled items non-compliant, blocking them from retail.

The National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service announced Sunday that it will conduct a month-long targeted safety investigation beginning Monday into produce with high chuseok demand, covering items typically used as ritual offerings or gifts.

Key items under inspection include apples, pears, grapes, peaches, chestnuts and bracken fern. The agency will test for pesticide residues at major production complexes and traditional markets to verify that peak-season produce is supplied safely from the farm level.

Any non-compliant produce will be held back from shipment or destroyed to prevent it from reaching retail. Last year's pre-chuseok inspection covered 900 samples of grapes, apples, jujubes, spinach, bellflower root and other produce, of which 9 — 1.0 percent of the total — failed.

The agency is also tightening follow-up management. It will provide one-on-one education sessions for growers whose produce failed last year's inspection and conduct on-site guidance for farming groups cultivating the same crops. Promotional materials covering major non-compliance cases and safe pesticide use will also be produced and distributed.

"We will work closely with farmers from the production stage to ensure that people can buy ritual and gift produce with confidence this chuseok," said Kim Cheol, head of the agency.


adastra@heraldcorp.com