• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.185-189
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• 2007

Animals must be inspected prior to and after slaughter to make certain they are free of diseases and unacceptable defects. Since meats are potentially hazardous foods, they should not be accept if there are any signs of contamination, temperature abuse, or spoilage. This survey was aimed to monitor the current situation of country-of-origin labels and sanitation for the meat markets in Seoul, Korea. The markets were divided into groups as to 25 territories in Seoul and the size of markets (large size, medium size, and small size). In terms of size distribution, small butcher shops occupied the highest percentage. On the itemized suitability test of unpacked and packed beer in Seoul, most butcher shops showed good evaluation. However, labels indicating the grade, storage and cooking instruction for unpacked beef were not properly posted on the products. The results of monitoring sanitation conditions for butcher shops in Seoul showed relatively low suitability. Especially, there were serious lack of knowledge about wearing the sanitation clothings, caps, and shoes. The problem with food safety is so complicated that producers, consumers, merchandisers, the press, the government and the scholar should try to solve the problems altogether. Also, it is important to educate and provide them with correct understanding and information for food hygiene and safety.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.454-468
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• 2014

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the actual condition of the farm work environment and personal protective equipment as part of the effort to improve livestock work for the safety and health of poultry farmers and provide basic data for establishing plans to improve and develop personal protective equipment. Methods: For this purpose, a questionnaire survey on general information about stables, the poultry work environment, accidents, the wearing of work clothes and personal protective equipment, and the level of awareness related to personal protective equipment was conducted among 148 poultry farmers. Results: As a result, it was found that poultry workplace environment was exposed to such risks as fine dusts; organic dusts; poisonous gases; odorous substances; chicken excrement; contact with chickens, bacteria or viruses; and accidents related to machine operation. Thirteen percent of respondents suffered severe respiratory diseases, and the most frequently injured sites due to accidents were the hands (25.7%), knees (23.8%), arms (17.3%), and head (10.9%). The most frequent type of accident was collisions between the body and obstacles or machinery during movement (36.4%), followed by erroneous machine operation such as feeders and electric shocks (8.5%). Regarding the wearing of work clothes and personal protective equipment, 51.7% of the respondents wore worn-out clothing or everyday clothes, whereas only 32.0% wore work clothes. The percentage of farmers who wore proper protective equipment for the work environment during poultry work was 48.4%. The most frequently used type of protective equipment was boots (38.9%), followed by mask (36.7%), gloves (36.3%), appropriate work clothes (22.6%), quarantine clothes (17.6%), helmets (13.4%), and goggles (12.6%). The rate of wearing goggles was low because they were considered inconvenient and lowered work efficiency. Furthermore, they purchased everyday products available on the market for their personal protective equipment which were not appropriate for maintaining safety in an actual harmful environment and its consequent risks. As a result of the survey of the awareness level related to personal protective equipment, their levels of awareness of accidents and attitude proved to be average or higher, but the practice of wearing protective equipment and the level of knowledge and management of personal protective equipment were lower. Conclusion: This survey found that the wearing status of personal protective equipment among poultry farmers was insufficient even though they were exposed to risks. Most respondents were aware of the necessity of wearing personal protective equipment and of the potential for accidents, but they did not wear proper protective equipment. Their wearing rate was low due to a lack of knowledge about protective equipment, as well as the inconvenience of wearing it. Therefore there is a need to improve and develop specialized personal protective equipment for respiration, hands, and eyes, as well as work clothes that can protect farmers from major harmful matter that is generated in the poultry workplace. Based on the results of this investigation, we will conduct further studies on the required performance and design directions of personal protective equipment while collecting more objective data through field-oriented assessments.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.122-126
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• 2007

Expenditure on meat and meat products has been increased in Korea due to the increase of income and the change of diet. From raising farm animals to eating the meat, various hazardous elements can make their ways into the meat and meat products. Recently the issues on food safety and hygiene are drawing a lot of attention, and the current system for managing the safety of foods is still needed to be improved. This survey was aimed to monitor the current situation of country-of-origin labels and hygiene for the meat markets at 4 regions Korea. The survey was performed by collecting samples from whole- sale and retail stores in the nation, which were selling beef. The markets were divided into groups as to territory and the size of the market (Large size, Medium size, and Small size). In terms of size distribution, small butcher shops occupied the highest percentage. On the itemized suitability test of unpacked and packed beef, all the market of 4 regions showed good agreements. However, such labels indicating the methods of cooking and storage were not properly posted on the products. Especially for Ho-nam region, corrections are needed. The results of monitoring sanitation conditions for the butcher shops at 4 regions in Korea showed relatively low suitability. Especially, there were serious lack of knowledge about wearing the sanitation clothing, caps, and shoes. The problem with food safety is so complicated that producer, consumer, food manufacturer, the press, the government, and scholar should solve altogether. It is necessary to educate farmers, food handlers, consumers, etc. and provide them with an accurate information and knowledge.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.477-487
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• 2019

Objectives: Firefighters are known to be exposed to a variety of toxic substances, but little information is available on the exposure profile of firefighting activities. The aims of this study were to conduct exposure monitoring of toxic chemicals at fire scenes, to compare the concentrations of respective chemicals among firefighting tasks, and to assess the main factors influencing the concentrations of chemicals. Methods: Researchers performed sampling at firefighting scenes during four weeks in 2013. At the scene, we collected samples based on firefighters' own activities and examined the situation and scale of the accident. Collected samples were classified into three categories, including fire extinguishing and overhaul, and were analyzed in the laboratory according to respective analysis methods. Results: A total of fourteen fire activity events were surveyed: five fire extinguishing, six overhaul, and three fire investigations. Although no substance exceeded the ACGIH TLV, PAHs were detected in every sample. Naphthalene ranged from 0.24 to 279.13 mg/㎥ (median 49.6 mg/㎥) and benzo(a)pyrene was detected in one overhaul case at 10.85 ㎍/㎥. Benzene (0.01-12.2 ppm) was detected in every task and exceeded the ACGIH TLV. No significant difference in concentrations between tasks was shown. Conclusions: These results indicate that all firefighting tasks generated various hazardous combustion products, including possible carcinogens.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.846-853
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• 2016

This study prioritizes Noxious Liquid Substances (NLS) transported by sea via a risk-based database containing 596 chemicals to prepare against NLS incidents. There were 158 chemicals transported in Korean waters during 2014 and 2015, which were prioritized, and then chemicals were grouped into four categories (with rankings of 0-3) based on measures for preparedness against incident. In order to establish an effective preparedness system against NLS spill incidents on a national scale, a compiling process for NLS chemicals ranked 2~3 should be carried out and managed together with an initiative for NLS chemicals ranked 0-1. Also, it is advisable to manage NLS chemicals ranked 0-1 after considering the characteristics of NLS specifically transported through a given port since the types and characteristics of NLS chemicals relevant differ depending on the port. In addition, three designated regions are suggested: 1) the southern sector of the East Sea (Ulsan and Busan); 2) the central sector of the South Sea (Gwangyang and Yeosu); and 3) the northern sector of the West Sea (Pyeongtaek, Daesan and Incheon). These regions should be considered special management sectors, with strengthened surveillance and the equipment, materials and chemicals used for pollution response management schemes prepared in advance at NLS spill incident response facilities. In the near future, the risk database should be supplemented with specific information on chronic toxicity and updated on a regular basis. Furthermore, scientific ecotoxicological data for marine organisms should be collated and expanded in a systematic way. A system allowing for the identification Hazardous and Noxious Substances (HNS) should also be established, noting the relevant volumes transported in Korean waters as soon as possible to allow for better management of HNS spill incidents at sea.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.845-854
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• 2009

There has been increased concern regarding the release of antibiotics to different environmental compartments due to the possibility of the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria. However, limited information is available regarding the occurrence, fate, and transport of antibiotics in Korea in both the aqueous phase and in solid phases such as sediment and soil. Therefore, this study was conducted to monitor the concentration of released antibiotics in surface water, sediment, and soil adjacent to a cattle manure composting facility in Korea. Specifically, the following six antibiotics were monitored: tetracycline (TC), chlortetracycline (CTC), oxytetracycline (OTC), sulfamethazine (SMT), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), and sulfathiazole (STZ). To extract and quantify the antibiotics from different environmental compartments, solid phase extraction (SPE) and high performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) techniques were adopted. The concentration of the six antibiotics ranged from below the detection limit (BDL) to 0.71 ${\mu}g$/L in surface water, from BDL to 27.61 ${\mu}g$/L in sediment, and from 0.12 to 157.33 ${\mu}g$/L in soil. In addition, higher concentrations of antibiotics were observed in surface water and sediment at locations closer to the composting facility indicating that composting is the source of the antibiotics found in the environment. Furthermore, higher concentrations of antibiotics were observed in the solid phase (sediment and soil) than the aqueous phase. These findings indicate that the possibility of antibiotic resistant bacteria is increased because such bacteria are more stable in the solid phase. Overall, longterm monitoring of the aqueous phase and solid phase is necessary to gain a better understanding of the impact of antibiotics from source on the environment in Korea.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.523-541
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• 2023

As accessibility to 3D printers increases, there is a growing frequency of exposure to chemicals associated with 3D printing. However, research on the toxicity and harmfulness of chemicals generated by 3D printing is insufficient, and the performance of toxicity prediction using in silico techniques is limited due to missing molecular structure data. In this study, quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) model based on data-centric AI approach was developed to predict the toxicity of new 3D printing materials by imputing missing values in molecular descriptors. First, MissForest algorithm was utilized to impute missing values in molecular descriptors of hazardous 3D printing materials. Then, based on four different machine learning models (decision tree, random forest, XGBoost, SVM), a machine learning (ML)-based QSAR model was developed to predict the bioconcentration factor (Log BCF), octanol-air partition coefficient (Log Koa), and partition coefficient (Log P). Furthermore, the reliability of the data-centric QSAR model was validated through the Tree-SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) method, which is one of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) techniques. The proposed imputation method based on the MissForest enlarged approximately 2.5 times more molecular structure data compared to the existing data. Based on the imputed dataset of molecular descriptor, the developed data-centric QSAR model achieved approximately 73%, 76% and 92% of prediction performance for Log BCF, Log Koa, and Log P, respectively. Lastly, Tree-SHAP analysis demonstrated that the data-centric-based QSAR model achieved high prediction performance for toxicity information by identifying key molecular descriptors highly correlated with toxicity indices. Therefore, the proposed QSAR model based on the data-centric XAI approach can be extended to predict the toxicity of potential pollutants in emerging printing chemicals, chemical process, semiconductor or display process.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.224-235
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• 2023

South Korea is the only divided nation globally, marked by a military demarcation line establishing demilitarized and civilian control zones, ensuring national security. Consequently, these areas exhibit relatively minimal ecological disruption compared to other regions. However, the threat to safety persists due to the presence of unexploded ordnances and landmines, imposing significant constraints on ecological research. To address this, we conducted a comparative study utilizing eDNA analysis as a supplementary and alternative approach within three points of the "Road of Peace" - Inje, Yanggu, and Hwacheon courses, located within the civilian control zone. Direct surveys and indirect eDNA sampling were carried out in May, July, and September of 2022. Genetic material obtained from the samples underwent amplification, library preparation, MiSeq sequencing, and subsequent ASV generation for indirect analysis. These results were then compared with the findings of direct surveys. Our findings revealed the detection of eDNA for both observed species at the Yanggu-1 point, and for two out of four species at Yanggu-2. Hwacheon-1 displayed the detection of eDNA for one out of one observed species, whereas Hwacheon-2 yielded seven out of twelve, Hwacheon-3 showed four out of six, and all one observed species at Hwacheon-4 exhibited eDNA detection. Consequently, approximately 69% of the fish species identified through direct surveys were confirmed by indirect eDNA analysis. It is necessary to verify if certain fish species, such as the continental trout and catfish, have genetic information registered in the NCBI database. Additionally, it is believed that further marker development research utilizing different genetic sequences is essential. Given the limitations imposed by the hazardous nature of the surveyed civilian control zone, eDNA analysis proves to be a suitable supplement for fish research in the area.