Structural Characteristics of the Beef Traceability System in Korea = Structural Characteristics of the Beef Traceability System in Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In Korea the Beef Traceability System (BTS) between farms to slaughterhouses was enforced on December 2008 by mandatory system. This system was extended to the retail shops from June 2009. Also traceability system for the imported beef from importers to consumers started from December 2010. BTS in Korea was based on The Cattle and Beef Traceability Management Act which was enacted on December 2007. The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MIFAFF) is responsible for formulating the BTS policies. The Korea Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation (KAPE) is entrusted by the MIFAFF to implement the practical promotion. National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF) and entrusted local agencies together take charge of attaching ear-tags. BTS is implemented by four steps, such as, breeding step, slaughterhouse step, processing step, and selling step. At the slaughterhouse step, KAPE agent should save samples from all carcasses for DNA identity inspection. BTS is now improving to a convenient and seamless system using internet and mobile phone.