South Korean food companies have been given the green light to resume sales of traditional chicken soup in China, as all related quarantine issue has been resolved, Seoul’s agriculture ministry said Thursday. (Image: Yonhap)
SEJONG, Feb. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean food companies have been given the green light to resume sales of traditional chicken soup in China, as all related quarantine issue has been resolved, Seoul’s agriculture ministry said Thursday.
Samgyetang is a traditional chicken soup made with a whole young chicken stuffed with ginseng, sticky rice and garlic. It is widely consumed in the country as an energy-boosting meal during summer.
Samgyetang has been on sale in China since 2016, but its sales in the neighboring countries virtually stopped due to the outbreak of bird flu in South Korea in late 2016 and China’s growing nontariff barriers to trade over Seoul’s plans to deploy an advanced U.S. missile defense system on its soil.
South Korea has culled more than 30 million chickens since the outbreak of avian influenza between November 2016 and April 2017, and Seoul was not allowed to ship soups made with chickens from farms near bird flu-infected areas to China, although heat-treated chicken soups are permitted.
Beijing has, moreover, banned imports of cosmetics and several other South Korean products since late last year when Seoul announced plans to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on South Korean soil despite strong opposition from Beijing.
(Yonhap)
