Chinese-grown king oyster mushrooms frequently disguised as domestic products...Forestry Agency formulates and operates countermeasures

(Daejeon=Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Jun-ho = Following recent cases of illegal distribution of domestic shiitake mushrooms disguised as Chinese products in major domestic supermarkets, the Korea Forest Service is establishing and pushing forward measures to protect domestic shiitake mushroom farms and eradicate illegal activities. According to the Korea Forest Service on the 29th, since the conclusion of the Korea-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2015, the import volume of Chinese shiitake mushroom raw materials and sawdust media has surged, making the overall domestic shiitake mushroom production supply chain vulnerable. Starting next year, the Korea Forest Service will push forward measures to establish the distribution order of shiitake mushrooms, including the introduction of a shiitake mushroom variety labeling system, the expansion of the operation of forestry product honor guards, the strengthening of joint inspections in cooperation with the Korea National Agro-Food Quality Management Service, and the implementation of a shiitake mushroom strain distribution history management system. The Korea Forest Service will register shiitake mushrooms as a national brand of clean forestry products, "Forest Food," by marking their origin and variety, and strengthen the distribution monitoring network for forestry products by expanding the honor guards from 13 to 40 next year. Given the distribution characteristics of shiitake mushrooms, illegal activities such as changing the origin are more frequent at the production sites or processing and distribution companies rather than at the markets and supermarkets where they are consumed. Starting next year, the Korea Forest Service plans to designate special inspection periods around the Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays, and in cooperation with the Korea National Agro-Food Quality Management Service, conduct surprise inspections and checks at national shiitake mushroom distribution centers and large-scale production farms. Kim Yong-jin, Director of the Private Forest Management and Income Division at the Korea Forest Service, urged consumers to develop the habit of checking the origin and variety when purchasing forestry products.