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Environment Ministry and mackerel

Posted May. 25, 2016 07:37,   

Updated May. 25, 2016 07:43

한국어

“To enable poor people to eat their fill, I am cruising on the sea again/ I am grateful to you, who is not rich, for choosing me / You also made a good job today…” Just as the lyric of this song "Mackerel" by singer Lucid who has a doctoral degree indicates, mackerel is fish that is popular among the working class in Korea. “I opened the freezer due to thirst in the middle of the night to find salted mackerel in a corner…” Singer Kim Chang-wan sang "Mother and Mackerel" in the 1980s, saying that he felt his mother’s deep love after seeing mackerel kept in the refrigerator.

A study suggesting that fine dust is heavily generated when grilling mackerel is a hot topic of conversation. The study said ultrafine dust (PM2.5), which is generated when grilling the mackerel in the kitchen with windows closed, amounts to 27 times the level of "very bad" alert in fine dust readings. The media labeled the study an "alert against grilled mackerel." While the problem with grilled mackerel can be understood, we wonder what would be the situation with the same fish boiled down in salt or in kimchi stew. Fine dust is inevitably generated when cooking food that requires burning fire, be it samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly), fried egg, or fried rice. Various chemicals that are generated during cooking including formaldehyde, volatile organic compound, black carbon, and carbon monoxide are a major cause of indoor air pollution.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 7 million people die yearly due to air pollution, while people who die due to indoor air pollution amount to 4.3 million (2012) of them. Surprisingly, people die due to indoor pollutants including dust, radon, and allergy-causing substances outnumber those who die due to outdoor pollutants such as nitrogen compound, ozone, and pollen. Since most people spend 80 percent of their time indoors every day, they should be wary of indoor air pollution. Fortunately, pollutants generated during cooking can be removed through active ventilation for just 15 minutes.

The Environment Ministry conducted the study on pollutants generated during cooking five different recipes including grilled mackerel and fried rice in May through November last year. When the public have criticized the ministry en masse lately, asking, “What has the Environment Ministry done to address fine dust?,” the ministry abruptly released the result of the study and "guide on indoor air management during cooking in the kitchen." It is questionable whether the ministry sought to dilute its responsibility by stressing that the cause of fine dust is not just pollutants streaming in from China or diesel vehicles.



정성희기자 shchung@donga.com