(123rf)

Only about 12 percent of food imports determined to be unsafe have actually been taken off the market, a lawmaker said Sunday, citing related government data.

According to the data from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, an average of 12.5 percent of 141 import food items that had been ordered to be recalled since 2022 have actually been removed from the local market.

Rep. Seo Mi-hwa of the main opposition Democratic Party said some of the recalled food items had a collection rate of over 80 percent, but that the rates for more than 90 recalled items were below 10 percent.

For instance, a type of dried mushrooms from China had been banned after it was found they contained prohibited substances, but none of the 3,550 kilograms that had already been imported and sold have made it back to the seller to be disposed of, the data showed.

Also, 144,000 kg of Vietnamese chili pepper had been ordered to be recalled for excessive pesticide residues, but only about 115 kg have so far been collected from the market.

A ministry official said the government works to "quickly retrieve affected products off the market when there is a recall order while informing consumers to return such products to the place of their purchase."

"But there are difficulties in retrieving products that have already been sold as they are often consumed before a recall order is put in place or disposed of by the consumers themselves," the official added.

Seo stressed the need for the food safety agency to conduct their food safety tests "more swiftly" so that "necessary steps can be taken before large quantities of unfit foodstuffs are distributed."