South Korea's egg consumption has increased ahead of the long Chuseok holiday, retail industry data showed Sunday.
Egg consumption here took a hit after some eggs were found to have been tainted with banned pesticides, causing a nationwide health scare.
Data provided by E-Mart, the country's largest hypermarket chain, said sales of eggs from Sept. 15-21 jumped 46.8 percent on-year, with Lotte Mart, another nationwide discount chain, reporting an increase of 30.5 percent.
Both E-Mart and Lotte Mart experienced double-digit drops in sales last month when pesticides were found in eggs.
The rebound comes after the government screened all egg producers and has started to implement new measures to prevent harmful chemicals from contaminating eggs. Seoul has set into place better screening processes for eggs and farms.
"There has been a noticeable recovery in demand that was helped in part by depressed prices caused by the tainted egg scare," a Lotte Mart source said.
He pointed out that Chuseok, which falls on Oct. 4 this year, generally fuels demand for eggs that are used in the making of certain traditional dishes like "jeon." It is made of sliced fish, meat and vegetables, and cooked with flour and eggs.
The traditional holiday is similar to Thanksgiving in the United States. On Chuseok, people make special food and exchange gifts.
Others at E-Mart said that at the present pace the consumption of eggs should return to normal by Chuseok.
