Certified mendacity: digging up dirt on the =E2=80=98organic' industry

October 14, 2005 =E3=85=A1 The perception of organic food here is that it is
expensive and limited only to a few posh retail shops advertising
"well-being." Expensive it is: organic food costs up to 30 percent more
than the alternative.
But there is now a noticeable increase in the market for organic
edibles, as giant company brands have jumped into the business and
supermarket chains have begun displaying "health food" on their
shelves, though at gourmet prices.
Good news for grocery shoppers, right?
It was indeed good for Jang Moon-sun, 54, a full-time mother living in
Banpo-dong, southern Seoul. She said she was delighted to see more
stores handling organic products, while in the past, she had to hunt
rather than shop for organic food.
She might thank the government policy that has been pushing farmers to
go organic. As a means to protect both the environment and domestic
agricultural products from massive imports, the Korean government
passed the "environmentally-friendly act" in 2001 that included support
for farmers of organic produce. The new law also required that farms
and their products be certified by designated agencies. Before, it was
up to the farmers to declare whether their agricultural products had
been produced organically. As a result, there have been a few incidents
in which regular carrots smeared with dirt were sold as "natural"
products for a higher price.
"We are also trying to concide with the well-being boom as consumers'
main concern these days is to eat safe, healthy food," said Kim
Jun-gyu, an environmental certification department official with the
National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service.
So, again, this means we are safe to purchase the organic product now,
right?
Well, not exactly, says one consumer's rights group. The group says it
saw products that had been labeled "organic," but were not quite the
100-percent organic produce a consumer might expect.
"Organic products have become so popular among the public that it is
easy to find such products being sold everywhere with labels that read
=E2=80=98environmentally-friendly'," Ko Myung-hee, a researcher at Consumers
Korea, said using the official name of the government policy for
promoting organic. "But what most consumers don't know is that they
could be buying a semi-organic or even non-organic product thinking
they are actually buying a 100-percent organic product."
Many local stores have now converted one corner into an
"environment-friendly agricultural section," stocked with certified
products. But shoppers usually overlook the label that categorizes the
product into one of four levels.
The first level is yuginong, or fully organic. To earn the label, the
field used had to be free from all pesticides and chemical fertilizers
for at least three years. The second level is jeonhwangi yuginong,
which can be tranlated as "transition organic," requiring one year of
pesticides and chemical fertilizer-free products. The third level is
mu-nongyak, or "no pesticides," which excludes pesticides but not
chemical fertilizers. The fourth level is jeo-nongyak, or "low on
pesticides."
But Kim Chung-hyeong, an employee at Chorok Maeul, a retail organic
shop, said most organic shops do not want to disclose how much of each
organic level they sell.
"The amount of first-level organic produce is very small," he said.
"More than half of the =E2=80=98organic' products we see in the markets are
fourth-level."
"That's how much the government certifies, so retail shops should be
selling about the same amount," he added.
According to statistics released by the National Agricultural Products
Quality Management Service, in 2001, 10,670 tons, or 0.05 percent of
agricultural products, were certified as "100-percent organic." But
44,334 tons, or 0.23 percent, were certified as fourth level. That
amounted to 87,279 tons of "environmentally-friendly" products during
that year.
In 2003, however, the amount of environmentally-friendly products
increased to 366,107 tons, accounting for 2.14 percent of all
agricultural products in Korea. But the amount of first-level products
was a mere 0.2 percent, or 34,191 tons, while the certifications for
fourth level products consisted of 1.24 percent, or 211,558 tons.
Kim Ki-hun, a senior official at the Environmental department at the
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said there was still little
organic farming in Korea, compared with Japan and European countries.
In some European countries, organic farming took up 5 percent of their
entire farming, he said.
"But our goal is to promote this business so that it accounts for 10
percent of domestic farm produce by 2010," he said.
But while organic food may be popular, the certification system is not.
Civic groups say the system does not meet international standards.
Although the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service
says that Korea's organic standards have been approved by the USDA, it
admits that the organic products certified by its 16 agencies could not
be exported.
Designated agencies must gain approval from the International
Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements, known as IFOAM, for their
certifications to be accepted by most countries.
"Several of the agencies are now working to get approved from IFOAM.
It's going to happen in the next two years," said Ahn Jong-seong of the
National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service. "Besides,
Korea doesn't produce enough organic products for export."


Where can one purchase certified organic produce?

According to the Agriculture Ministry, the number of natural food
grocery stores has reached 931 nationwide as of end of 2004, and it is
guessing there should be at least 20 percent increase by this year
after bigger chain stores such as Lotte Mart and E-Mart declared they
would enter the organic market also.
Here are few of the popular ones selling healthier food here and the
price tags from their bestselling products. All products have been
certified according to the four Korean organic levels.


Chorok Maeul

Meaning "green village" in Korean, its first branch opened in 2001 in
Daechi-dong, southern Seoul. Their specialty is ori ssal, rice
cultivated from South Chungcheong province using manure that ducks
leave in rice fields as a natural pesticide. One of its ori ssal
products, "Chorok Maeul unpolished rice," is first-level organic, and
costs 21,000 won for 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds). The store carries over
820 natural products. Shopping is available online as well. To find the
closest store, visit www.hanifood.co.kr


Orga

A new affiliate of Pulmuwon, a natural food
company, Orga has 12 stores in Seoul, and is available at some counters
of E-mart. Orga handles over 3,000 products both domestic and imported.
Rice available in all four organic levels ranges from 11,800 to 23,500
won. Their top sellers are processed food, however, such as the "orga
strawberry jam" and the "orga milk." Note: Processed food products do
not come with government certification.
Visit www.orga.co.kr


Nonghyup Hanaro

One of the earliest supermarket chains in Korea to handle "organic
food." The market is run by Nonghyup, a farmer's collective, providing
agricultural products to the market for a cheaper price. The branch in
Yangjae-dong, Seoul, is particularly well-known for stacking its
shelves with a diverse array of organic products. The main brand line,
however, is "Achim Maru," Nonghyup's own. A 3.5-kilogram bag of
level-one organic rice is 20,200 won, and 4 kilograms of level-two rice
is 19,100 won. Level-four apples are 8,530 won a pack (6 in a pack).
www.hanaro-club.co.kr


Hansalim

Hansalim helps buyers reach about 2,000 farmers who are certified to
produce partly to completely organic food. The company says consumers
can be sure that they are eating a safe product because they know by
whom and where the product was grown. An 8-kilogram bag of level-one
polished rice is 32,600 won. Level-two iceberg lettuce is 1,000 won per
pack (200 grams). Level three and four apples are available, at about
21,000 won for 5 kilograms.
Products only available on the website: www.hansalim.or.kr


by Lee Min-a

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