▲ The sausage photo courtesy lehtta1

It has been found that sausages contaminated with the hepatitis E virus have been imported to Korea.

The infected sausages, imported from Germany and the Netherlands, have recently been at the center of a scare in England and it has been found that around 12 tons of the sausage have arrived here in Korea.

The infection came about because the hepatitis E virus can be contained in the blood of the pigs used to make sausages.

The Korea Food and Drug Administration announced that most of the infected sausages were frozen when they arrived in Korea. They suggested that as long as you heat the sausage up and cook them properly (the virus dies at 70 degrees) it will not be a problem.

Upon the announcement, Lotte Mart and E-Mart both announced that they do not sell any German sausages.

So far, there have been no reports of any of the infected sausages being found on Jeju.

While the hepatitis E virus usually just causes mild symptoms, in rare cases it can prove to be fatal and is particularly dangerous to pregnant women.