Renewed call for red meat traceability system

The implementation of a voluntary traceability system in the South African red meat value chain has reached a new level of importance, especially in light of the most recent outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in the country.

This was according to James Faber, chairperson of the Red Meat Producers’ Organisation.

“International trade partners and consumers are increasingly demanding traceability. It has become a matter of necessity in terms of market access,” he said in a statement.

Faber added that the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (agriculture department), in co-operation with the various livestock industries, had already made significant progress with the development of a livestock identification and traceability system (LITS).

According to a draft document published by the agriculture department, traceability was needed as the South African livestock industry was extremely vulnerable to periodic outbreaks of transboundary or high-impact diseases.

This negatively affected domestic trade and exports, and could potentially cost the livestock industry and the country billions of rands in lost revenue. The document said that stock theft remained a serious problem in South Africa and could be reduced by having a LITS in place. In a report on its website, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) defined traceability as “the ability to follow the movement of food through specified stages of production, processing and distribution”.

According to the FAO, a good traceability system needed to provide accurate information on the origin, sex, age, breed, movements, and records of the veterinarian treatments an animal received.

The FAO said traceability systems were important tools to prevent the spread of animal diseases and to enhance biosecurity in general.

While an animal identification and livestock/ meat traceability system did not guarantee food safety, animal disease prevention or quality assurance, it facilitated interventions aimed at public health, veterinary health and animal health.

Faber said role players in the local livestock industry would henceforth establish criteria that had to be adhered to in order to ensure the success of the local traceability system in collaboration with private service providers.

Service providers needed to comply with the International Committee for Animal Recording criteria.

“The implementing of the voluntary system will pave the way for the establishment of a complete traceability system in collaboration with the state in the future,” he added. – Annelie Coleman