(KR) Dog Meat to Face Sanitation Inspection

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Dog meat eateries face crackdown

From correspondents in Seoul

April 14, 2008

 

OFFICIALS in the South Korean capital Seoul will launch their first health

inspection of illegal dog meat restaurants this month.

 

From late April, the city plans to take dog meat samples from about 530 such

restaurants to examine whether they contain heavy metals or other harmful

substances.

 

" We do not intend to regulate the selling of dog meat but to examine their

safety, " a food safety official said on condition of anonymity.

 

The city would conduct regular inspections, publicise a list of restaurants that

serve unhealthy dog meat and suspend their operations, he said.

 

Such restaurants are technically illegal.

 

To avoid adverse publicity before the 1988 Olympics, the city banned dog meat

and snake meat as " abhorrent food " .

 

But the order is now largely ignored.

 

" Many citizens enjoy dog meat despite the ban. But there have been no hygiene

regulations on their slaughter and trade because dogs are not classed as

livestock, " the official said.

 

The city Government has proposed reclassifying dogs as livestock so it can set

food safety standards.

 

But the proposal, which will be sent to the central Government next month, has

sparked angry reactions from animal rights activists, who staged street protests

and launched online signature campaigns.

 

" Our inspection is not related to the proposal. But we still hope to push for

the reclassification if a majority supports it, " the official said.

 

Dog soup, called boshintang (health soup), is a Korean summer delicacy.

 

Somewhere between two and four million dogs are consumed in South Korea every

year, but the slaughtering and processing is carried out in dirty environments

and poses a risks to diners' health.

 

Article from: Agence France-Presse

 

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23536230-5001028,00.html

 

Dog Meat to Face Sanitation Inspection

By Kim Tae-jong

Staff Reporter

Korea Times

04-13-2008

 

The Seoul government plans to inspect the sanitation of dog meat served at

restaurants from this month.

 

In the inspection, the city will take samples of dog meat from about 530

restaurants and examine if they contain harmful substances such as heavy metals,

antibiotics and bacteria.

 

Under the current law, it is illegal to butcher dogs and trade their meat as

they are not categorized as livestock but the government has been unable to

regulate the sale of dog meat as it is a part of long-rooted private Korean

dining culture.

 

But the ambiguous situation has raised concerns over the sanitation of dog meat

as dogs are categorized in the same group as donkeys, rabbits, horses and deer,

which does not let the authorities apply regulations for livestock to the trade

of dog meat.

 

" The inspection has nothing to do with the issue to legalize the sale of dog

meat, " a city official said. " It is just to examine the safety of dog meat at

restaurants as many Koreans enjoy dishes of dog meat. "

 

The city will conduct a regular sanitation inspection on dog meat and make

public a list of restaurants that serve insalubrious dog meat dishes and suspend

their operation, he said.

 

The city also plans to propose that the central government categorize dogs as

livestock.

 

But when the plan was first announced last month, it drew criticism from dog

lovers and animal rights organizations both at home and abroad. They cited dogs

are major human-friendly animals.

 

Due to such strong opposition, previous attempts to attempts to categorize dogs

as livestock have failed.

 

In 2001, 20 lawmakers proposed a bill to revise the Law on Stock Product

Process, aimed at setting up proper regulations on dog meat.

 

But the bill was scrapped without being properly dealt with due to criticism

from animal rights groups and dog lovers.

 

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/04/113_22402.html