Canada's CFIA to Conduct On-Site Inspection of Domestic Meat Processing Hygiene System in November

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will conduct an on-site inspection of the domestic meat inspection system in November in connection with the export of domestic meat and processed livestock products to Canada.

According to the Korea Meat Export Association, the CFIA plans to verify the implementation status of the meat inspection system applied to domestically exported livestock products for two weeks from November 2 to 13. Prior to this, on September 17, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs held a meeting to discuss responses to the on-site inspection at the Animal Health and Quarantine Support Headquarters in Sejong City, attended by relevant government agencies and industry officials.

The inspection covered a total of 11 workplaces, including 3 slaughterhouses, 1 meat packaging and processing plant, and 7 heat-treated livestock product processing plants.

The slaughterhouses targeted are Dodram Gimje FMC, TY, and Sajowon Naju Plant, while Dodram Gimje FMC is included as a meat packaging and processing plant. Heat-treated livestock product processing plants include Sajowon Naju Plant, CJ CheilJedang Nonsan Plant, Dongwon F&B Jincheon Plant, TY, Lotte Wellfood Gimcheon Plant, Gyeonu Food, and Jinhan Food.

In particular, heat-treated processed pork and beef products were included in the ‘first audit’ of this on-site inspection.

The processed pork products subject to inspection include sterilized and non-sterilized heat-treated products such as canned ham, sausages, and gamjatang, while the processed beef products include jerky and galbitang. Regarding these items, the Canadian side will verify the actual implementation status of the domestic meat inspection and hygiene management system on-site.

Maintenance audits of existing export items will also be conducted. The items subject to audit are heat-treated processed poultry products such as samgyetang, chicken porridge, and duck porridge, as well as beef broth products such as sagol gomtang, seaweed soup, and soybean paste stew.

The government has also begun preparations to respond to on-site inspections. The meeting held on September 17 was attended by officials from the Quarantine Policy Division and the Livestock Hygiene and Quality Team of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, the Animal Health and Disease Control Support Center, relevant regional agencies, the Korea Meat Export Association, the Korea Meat Processing Association, the Korea Chicken Association, and companies subject to on-site inspections.

This CFIA on-site inspection is noteworthy as a procedure to verify whether Korea's inspection and hygiene management system for exported livestock products is actually operating in accordance with Canadian standards, rather than a simple inspection of individual products. In particular, as heat-treated pork and beef products have been included in the audit for the first time, it is necessary to monitor the follow-up procedures regarding the export of these products to Canada.