When it comes to street snacks in the winter, warm fish cakes cannot be left out, and the hygiene problem of wooden skewers threaded with fish cakes has always been on the cutting board.
From next year, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, seems to be able to relieve these worries.
An ordinance on fish cake skewers, which restricts the reuse of wooden skewers such as fish cake skewers, was passed by the Gangseo-gu Council.
Originally, the ordinance was to completely ban the recycling of wooden skewers, but it was revised to guide disposal or replacement in consideration of the opinions of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.
The current Food Sanitation Act does not have a stipulated regulation on the reuse of skewers, but the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has issued an opinion that 'wooden skewers that have been maintained and managed in a clean manner such as washing and sterilization can be reused'.
It is said that it was because of the reason why the fish cake skewer ordinance came out, and a resident complained that he had eaten fish cake at the local market and went to the hospital with a sore throat.
Gangseo-gu plans to provide guidance by issuing certification marks to stores that do not reuse fish cake skewers from next year.