"Kimchi", or pickled vegetable, imported from China proved to be safe for consumption as its lead content was found to be within an international standard, South Korea's food safety watchdog said again on Monday.

A recent investigation of 58 kinds of Kimchi circulated in local markets, showed Chinese brands having an average lead content of 0.05 ppm (parts per million), compared with 0.02 ppm for domestic products, said South Korean Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) in a news release.

The figures not only lower than 0.12 ppm to 0.57 ppm that a South Korean opposition lawmaker recently claimed Chinese Kimchi has, but also even lower than the international standard of 0.1 ppm, it said.

It was the second time for the KFDA unveiled its probe results of the comparison between Kimchi imported from China and produced locally since late September.

The results came after the lawmaker claimed in late September that imported Kimchi from China contain at most as five times as the local-produced ones and harmful to the health of local people.

The lawmaker's claim caused panic among South Korean people, since Kimchi is one of the South Korean people's most favorite food that they almost eat every meal.

In the first announcement of the result of the analysis, the KFDA also said the Kimchi imported from China is safe to consume, because the amount of lead in it does not exceed the permissible level set by the WHO.

According to government figures, South Korea imported 49,846 tons of Kimchi from China in the first half of the year, up 114.4 percent from a year earlier.

Due to low price, almost half of restaurants in Seoul serve Kimchi to clients, an investigation showed recently. Enditem
 
(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2005)