South Korea probes rat in US frozen vegetable

SEOUL -- South Korea's food safety authority said Friday that it is probing how a rat was found in a US-made frozen vegetable products and demanded an immediate recall of the products.

The Korea Food and Drug Administration ordered the local unit of the US retailer Costco Wholesale Corp., which was selling the products made by the US-based Columbia Foods Inc., to immediately recall and destroy the product named "Willow Wind Organic Mixed Vegetables," South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said.

The investigation was carried out after a local consumer complained to Costco's Korean unit on Monday that a substance suspected to be a rat was found in the product, the food safety agency said at a statement.

"After initially checking the foreign substance, it was believed to be a 4-centimeter-long rat," the statement said.

The agency said it is probing how the foreign substance was included in the product.

The product was imported into South Korea as of March 5 and sold in only six outlets of Costco's Korean unit, according to the statement.

"We would like to express our deepest apologies for causing inconvenience to our customers," Costco's Korean said at a statement.