Guangdong has improved the quality of information about live swine the southern China province exports to Hong Kong through attaching special electronic tags to an animal's ear, the provincial food watchdog source said.
Li Qingxiang, Guangdong Inspection and Quarantine Bureau deputy director, said the province started the pilot program of installing the tags on Hong Kong-bound pigs at a farm in Heyuan City earlier this year.
"Compared with traditional export tags, the electronic tags provide more accurate information about the pig's history, and includes breeding sources, feed, vaccination and immunization, among others," he said.
Using radio frequency identification technology, the tags also greatly improved the efficiency of quarantine and inspection officers.
Since March, 640 pigs equipped with the tags have been exported to Hong Kong. All were in compliance with the Special Administrative Region (SAR) government's health requirement.
Li said the technology was mature enough to replace the existing method, and was expected to be applied to other exports.
Guangdong consumed about 60 million live pigs annually. It provided 2,030 pigs to Hong Kong and Macao each day, about 40 percent of the their pork supply. The rest came from other Chinese provinces.
Guangdong food safety authorities pledged they would continue strict inspection and quarantines to ensure safe pork supply during the Chinese New Year.
Source:Xinhua
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