Gwangju City Makes Every Effort to Ensure Safety of Livestock Products Ahead of Chuseok

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City is making every effort to ensure the safety of livestock products in preparation for the Chuseok holiday.

According to Gwangju City on the 17th, the Gwangju Health and Environment Research Institute has designated the period from the 21st to the 30th as the "Special Livestock Product Hygiene Inspection Period" ahead of Chuseok, when livestock product consumption increases, and will strengthen inspections of livestock products produced at slaughterhouses to ensure safe and hygienic distribution.

In particular, during the special measures period, hygiene management at slaughterhouses will be intensively strengthened, thorough slaughter inspections of animals for shipment will be conducted, and the number of residue and microbial tests on meat will be increased from once to twice to enhance the safety of livestock products.

On the 27th and the Chuseok holiday on the 30th, mammalian slaughterhouses will also be opened to provide convenience to slaughter customers and increase the supply of livestock products to promote supply-demand and price stability.

In addition, to prevent African Swine Fever (ASF), which still requires vigilance, thorough management and supervision of disinfection at slaughterhouse entrances will be conducted, and body temperature measurements of pigs held before slaughter will be carried out to ensure complete prevention of livestock infectious diseases.

According to slaughter performance data provided by the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, nationwide cattle slaughter volumes significantly increase in January and September before Seollal and Chuseok, while pig, chicken, and duck slaughter volumes are not greatly affected by the holidays.

In the Gwangju area, the average daily cattle slaughter volume was 47 heads in 2018 and 43 heads last year, but during the Chuseok special measures period, it increased by 36.2% and 25.6% compared to normal times, reaching 64 heads and 54 heads respectively.

This year, due to the impact of COVID-19, the usual workload is lower than the previous year, but it is expected to increase by about 20% ahead of Chuseok.

Although the economic situation is shrinking worldwide due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic this Chuseok, many consumers have expressed their intention to refrain from visiting their hometowns during the holiday and send gifts by delivery due to strengthened social distancing, leading the distribution industry to expect an increase in Hanwoo sales.

Also, due to the longest rainy season since weather observations began and frequent typhoons, fruit prices have risen, and demand for Hanwoo gift sets is expected to increase relatively.

Kim Yong-hwan, Director of the Animal Hygiene Testing Laboratory, said, "We will do our best so that citizens, exhausted by the unprecedented prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the long rainy season, and frequent typhoons, can trust and consume safe livestock products produced in our region."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.