Consumers who take health food powders such as turmeric and noni are urged to exercise caution. The Incheon Metropolitan City Institute of Public Health and Environment said Thursday that metal particle levels exceeded legal limits in 17 out of 31 commercially available products tested — a failure rate of 54.8 percent. Consumers who purchased the affected products should immediately stop consumption and seek refunds.
The institute conducted the inspection as part of its first-quarter safety survey, focusing on metallic foreign matter contamination in powdered health foods including turmeric, noni and finger root.
Some products contained metal particles at levels up to 23 times the legal limit of 10.0 mg/kg. Metallic foreign matter is generated during the process of grinding raw materials with metal crushers. The contamination is typically removed through a magnet-based filtering process, but the products that failed inspection either skipped this step or had inadequate quality controls, the institute said.
The institute immediately reported the non-compliant products to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) to block further distribution and sales. Consumers who purchased the affected products can return them through the retailer or manufacturer. Product details are available on the Food Safety Korea website (foodsafetykorea.go.kr).
"We will do our best to ensure the safety of distributed food products through preemptive inspections that reflect actual consumer trends," said Kim Myung-hee, head of the institute.