Japan took one step closer to total traceability this week when retailers and restaurants selling beef introduced a beef tracing system – making the coverage of Japan’s tracking system probably the widest in the world.
From now on all beef outlets, over 30,000 of them, will have to attach a ten-digit individual identification number or cattle lot number to their produce. Consumers, most of whom carry web-enabled phones, can trace information such as the age of the animal plus where it was raised via the Internet.
Japan initially forced beef producers to list detailed data on their beef in the wake of BSE outbreaks in Japan and abroad.