S. Korea to introduce 'complete' tracking system for beef

By Lee Joon-seung

SEOUL, June 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will introduce a comprehensive tracking system next week for domestically sold beef that will put local market transparency on par with the United States and Japan, the government said Thursday.

Seoul's agriculture ministry said the stricter regulations will go into effect on
Monday, requiring all cattle to be tagged and registered with a central data
system.
Slaughtering animals without proper identification will be banned from next week,
the ministry said, adding 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.
"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," said Lee Chang-buhm, head of the ministry's livestock
bureau.
Lee said the government will spend 13.3 billion won (US$10.5 million) to allow
the process to take root this year. The National Agricultural Products Quality
Management Service will be in charge of ferreting out violations in the coming
months.
The tracking system was first introduced in Europe to cope with consumer concerns
over mad cow disease, which has been cited for causing the fatal, brain-wasting
variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
Lee said that while the system is for domestically grown cattle and beef, work is
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," he said.
The ministry, in charge of the country's farm policies, 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 tell consumers the farmer or ranch that raised the
cattle, the type of cattle and its age, and the quality level of the meat.