S. Korea: 'Blood dripping' from slaughtered dogs... Daegu's Chilsung market's 'Dog meat alley'

[Giny Woo]

S. Korea: 'Blood dripping' from slaughtered dogs... Daegu's Chilsung
market's 'Dog meat alley'
Cut up pieces kept at room temperature, food poisoning risk in this hot weather

Translation of news:
http://www.imaeil.com/sub_news/sub_news_view.php?news_id=43032&yy=2012

Afternoon of July 19, North Daegu’s Chilsung market also known as ‘Dog
meat alley’. In a scorching heat exceeding 30 ℃, the butchered dog
meat are displayed without refrigeration in front of restaurant
entrances. Blood was dripping from the dog meat but out of
approximately 10 dog meat restaurants in this alley, none were
equipped with refrigeration case like the ones butcher shops use.

When a man in his 40s asked “Don’t these meat get spoiled in this
heat?”, the restaurant owner answered “There is ice underneath the
meat and all the dogs slaughtered today gets sold today so there’s
nothing to worry.”
In addition, as each of these restaurants displays pieces of butchered
dogs in front of their restaurants as if they are competing with each
other, the unique bloody smell of dogs and the unaesthetic view is
causing frowns upon people’s faces. It’s enough to annoy other
merchants in this market. A merchant who runs a store complained,
“Whenever I walk pass the ‘Dog meat ally’, I feel the abomination and
don’t know where to lay my eyes.”
As the summertime storage and sanitation management of dog meat
restaurant is in shambles threatening our health with food poisoning
and more, because of the inadequacy of laws, enforcement is hardly
being conducted.
The experts are warning the risks about food poisoning when the dog
meat is stored and sold in high temperature in summertime. An official
with the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries stated,
“Even when the ice is placed underneath, if you store the dog meat in
a high temperature, it can spoil easily and can cause food poisoning.

However, the problem is unlike the beef, pork and chicken, dog meat is
not classified as livestock so the unsanitary dog meat sales can’t be
supervised. Dog is excluded from the livestock designated as edible
based on the Livestock sanitation management law’s implementation
ordinance. Currently, the Animal protection law states that ‘the
slaughter must be done in such a way as to minimize the pain’.
However, there is no rules for punishment in the law.

Because of this, regulatory institutions such as local governments,
Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Food and
Drug Administration inspection agency can’t even understand the exact
status let alone the supervision of dog meat distribution and sales
process. An official from the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries stated, “To conduct research of exact status and to
regulate the industry, dog must be classified as edible livestock in
the Livestock sanitation and management law. However, because of the
strong opposition from the animal protection organizations and some
citizens, we are not able to implement this plan and as for now, we do
not have ways to crack down on this industry.”

Read the story here: http://koreandogs.org/?p=2282
Sign the petitions against dog meat trade in S. Korea:
http://koreandogs.org/?page_id=1512
Thank you!