[Editorial] Adulterated food

One of President Park Geun-hye’s key campaign pledges was to make people’s everyday lives safer and more secure. Her determination to keep that promise was reflected in her postelection decision to change the name of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security to the Ministry of Security and Public Administration.

Since taking office in February, Park has vowed to eradicate what she defined as four major problems ― sex crimes, domestic violence, school bullying and adulterated food.

Her emphasis strikes the right note for a society where many people are gripped by mounting anxiety over threats to the security and safety in their daily lives. But concrete and effective measures will be needed to win the battle against these threats.

In the latest move to follow up on her pledge, ruling party and government officials recently announced a legislative plan to strengthen punishment against those found to have made or sold substandard food products. They have said a bill to be drawn up by the end of June will call for, among other things, confiscating 10 times the value of the sales of an adulterated food product and, if caught more than twice, having manufacturers or sellers serve actual prison terms of at least a year.

The legislative measure will have been overdue as a recent survey by the national statistics office found that only 16 percent of Koreans believed foodstuffs in Korea were safe to eat. Korea’s judiciary authorities have remained relatively lenient on cases involving adulterated food. Less than 1 percent of those accused of manufacturing or selling substandard food products were subject to actual prison terms in the country last year, compared to 36.5 percent in the U.S.

In addition to tougher penalties, it is also necessary to extend more support to help food companies abide by sanitary standards. About 97 percent of local food makers are small firms with fewer than 50 employees.

Citizens are also required to do their part to get rid of adulterated food. In a survey, 6 in 10 respondents said they would overlook unsanitary food items being sold because they did not want to bother to report them to authorities. Such a passive attitude will continue to make it difficult to eradicate one of the gravest threats to their health.