South Korea to use tracking system for local beef

South Korea will introduce a comprehensive tracking system next week for local beef that will put domestic market transparency on par with the United States and Japan, the Agricultural Ministry said Thursday (June 18).

 

The new but stringent regulations, which took effect on June 15, will require all tagging of all cattle and registering with a central data system, reports Yonhap news agency citing Head of the Ministry's Livestock Bureau Lee Chang-buhm.

 

Slaughtering animals without proper identification will be banned from next week, he added, and that meat will be tracked throughout the wholesale and retail process until reaching consumers.

 

This is an expansion on the current tracking system, which has been in effect since Dec 22.

 

Lee said other countries such as the United States, Japan, European Union nations, Australia, New Zealand and some in South America have all introduced this system within the last decade. The South Korean government said the government will spend 13.3 billion won (US$10.5 million) to allow the process to take off this year.

 

The National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service will be in charge of ferreting out violations in the coming months.

 

Europe first used the tracking system to cope with consumer concerns over mad cow disease, which has been cited for causing the fatal, brain-wasting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.

 

Lee said that while the system is for domestically grown cattle and beef, work is also underway to expand this to imported meat by late 2010.

 

Imported beef will also be tracked by using radio frequency identification tags that will store information provided by importers, the livestock chief said.

 

The ministry said the need to keep better track could cause producer prices to go up by 10 percent although this may not be fully reflected in the price of beef since the tracking system is run by the government.

 

Officials said there will be a grace period of two months so producers and retailers can implement the necessary changes. Fines up to 5 million won will be levied on violators starting in September.

 

Ordinary consumers who want to know details about the meat they are buying can use their mobile phone or computer to check the special identification tracking numbers on meat packages.

 

The 12-digit numbers will inform consumers about the farmer or ranch that raised the cattle, the type of cattle and its age, and the quality level of the meat.