South Korea Herbs, Spices & Seasonings insights

Recently, the import of ‘honeycomb honey’ has been rapidly increasing. The beekeeping industry is raising its voice that imported honeycomb honey should be included in the quarantine target in preparation for possible disease infection. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s Imported Food Information Center, the import volume of imported honeycomb honey was tallied at 65 tons as of the 18th of this year. This is a large increase from last year (13 tons). The beekeeping industry sees the recent increase in dessert specialty stores such as ‘yogurt ice cream’ as the background for the increase in honeycomb honey imports. Some companies provide honeycomb honey as a topping (additional ingredient to decorate food), and as these products have become popular, the import volume has also increased. The problem is that honeycomb honey goes through the same customs clearance procedures as general imported foods. According to the National Institute of Animal and Plant Quarantine, beehives, which are called ‘consume (巢脾)’ in Chinese characters, are classified as designated quarantine items according to the ‘Quarantine Methods and Standards for Designated Quarantine Items’ of the ‘Livestock Infectious Disease Prevention Act’ and must be quarantined when imported. However, honeycomb honey is classified as a food according to the Food Code because it contains honey, so it does not have to go through this procedure. A beekeeping veterinarian said, “If honeycomb honey of uncertain origin is imported without quarantine procedures, it can cause unexpected damage.” Since bees fly over a wide area of tens of kilometers, there is a possibility that diseases can be cross-transmitted through honeycomb honey. Kim Yong-rae, the head of the Korea Beekeeping Association, said, “In order to protect the health of the people and vitalize the beekeeping industry, imported honeycomb honey must be included in the quarantine target.” The Korea Beekeeping Association has been collecting opinions related to this by sending a ‘Signature for Designation of Imported Honeycomb Honey as a Quarantine Target’ to member farms since the end of November. Park Geun-ho, the president of the beekeeping association, said, “We plan to gather opinions from farmers at the association level and suggest measures to the government and others.” The government is not expressing a clear opinion. On October 24, during the National Assembly’s state audit of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Kim Jeong-hee, the head of the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, was asked about beekeeping ‘consumption’ designated quarantine items and said, “Beekeeping ‘consumption’ is subject to quarantine as a designated quarantine item, but honeycomb for consumption has a relatively low risk of disease transmission.

(Changwon=Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Seon-gyeong = Changwon City in Gyeongnam Province announced on the 3rd that it has exported Changwon-grown paprika to the Philippines for the first time. The city has been promoting paprika exports to the Philippines since the National Institute of Animal Quarantine concluded negotiations with the Philippines to ease export quarantine requirements in August of last year, opening the way for air exports. Changwon-grown paprika ranks first in paprika exports nationwide. Up until now, about 90% of it has been exported to Japan and the rest has been used for domestic consumption, but exports have been decreasing recently due to the continued economic recession in Japan and the decline in consumer purchasing power. Accordingly, the city decided that it was necessary to diversify export destinations, and this time, Gyeongnam Province exported 0.6 tons of paprika to the Philippines for the first time. It plans to export 3 tons of Changwon-grown paprika to the Philippines every week from January to July next year. Kim Sam-soo, the representative of the Gagopa Export Agricultural Cooperative, said, "I am glad that the export route to the Philippines has opened in a situation where export volume is decreasing due to the local economic recession in Japan," and added, "We will do our best to expand exports to the Philippines with the best quality." Hong Nam-pyo, the mayor of Changwon, said, "The Philippines is a market where demand for fresh agricultural products is rapidly increasing," and added, "We will continue to strengthen the international competitiveness of Changwon agricultural products by diversifying export destinations." ksk@yna.co.kr Report to KakaoTalk okjebo <Copyrights (c) Yonhap News, Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution, AI learning and use prohibited> Sent on 2024/12/03 14:58

[Livestock Newspaper Jeon Woo-jung] As warm winter days with higher temperatures than average continue, special attention is required for bee management. According to the weather forecast recently released by the Korea Meteorological Administration, this winter is expected to be warmer than average, December and January are expected to be similar to average, and February is expected to be higher than average, but temperature fluctuations are expected to be large. These climate changes are expected to affect bees.