(CN) Animals get needle in health crackdown

[Guest guest]

South China Morning Post

http://china.scmp.com/today/ZZZR5YEP1SC.html

Thursday, October 4, 2001

STAFF REPORTER in Shanghai

 

While the Government usually labels tattooed youngsters punks,

Shanghai authorities have ordered a whole class of city residents to go

under the needle.

 

But these residents are animals, not human. From January 1, all

pigs, cows and goats in the greater Shanghai area will have to sport a

special tattoo on their left ear showing they are fit to be slaughtered.

 

" Local farmers will be required to tattoo their livestock to

prove that animals have received all necessary vaccinations before they can

sell any pigs, cattle or goats for slaughter, " the official Shanghai Daily

said yesterday.

 

The newspaper quoted an official of the Shanghai Livestock

Office as saying farmers must also obtain immunisation certificates for all

animals slated to be sent to the slaughterhouse.

 

The tattoos will include a unique serial number that can be used

to identify each animal, where it was raised and its owner. They are aimed

at preventing unvaccinated meat from entering the market and helping health

authorities track down the origin of any tainted meat.

 

The newspaper did not mention the mad-cow or foot-and-mouth

disease epidemics that have ravaged some European meat-producing states, but

concern about unsafe food products is apparently on the rise.

 

China has had periodic outbreaks of foot-and-mouth, although

they have not been reported by the official media.

 

Official newspapers have claimed mad-cow disease has never been

imported into China.

 

But a spokesman at the Ministry of Health in Beijing said:

" China has had an indigenous strain of mad-cow disease for centuries and it

has already killed a small number of people. "