The system traces the health of livestock from birth, enabling herders and veterinarians to provide accurate and verifiable information on animals to buyers and consumers, including health history, veterinary treatments, and geographical movements. It is designed to improve animal health surveillance in the identification of epidemics and outbreaks or disease. It is based on database at the State Veterinary and Animal Health Agency to monitor the quality and availability of veterinary services for herders, with the aim of establishing disease-free zones.
“At present, it is impossible for customers buying meat from a supermarket or market to know where the animal comes from,” said State Veterinary and Animal Health Agency specialist L. Davaasuren. “Our agency’s aim is to provide customers with credible information about the origin, health and quality of the meat they consume.
“For example, 600 lambs we supplied to the “Makh market” company were all registered in the system; hence, we could certify the origin and health of the animals. This system will improve the reliability of the supply of high-quality animals to processing companies.”
The system, which is backed by the new Animal Health Law, signals a marked shift in supply chain practices, with livestock collection from different soums through middlemen and the direct transport of herds to the city without origin or health certification no longer allowed.
In June, all stakeholders involved in the implementation of the system gathered at the Mongolian University of Applied Science to assess implementation and the progress made in awareness-raising.
“Ensuring animal health will open many opportunities to Mongolia,” said SDC Mongolia Director of Cooperation Gabriella Spirli. “If there is no reliable information for customers on the origin and health of animals, they have no security about how healthy or contaminated the meat could be. Providing reliable information on the origin, herder and health situation of the animal (traceability), the marketability of Mongolian meat drastically increases.”
The Digital Medic company has developed a mobile phone application that allows people to view information on the origin and health of animals when buying meat. “Using a phone’s barcode reader to scan the barcode on meat packages, people can view information on animals’ sex and health, as well as information about the owner and if animals have been kept in healthy or degraded rangelands. For instance, if you read this bar code, it says this beef comes from 2 year old cattle of Donoi bag of Undur-Ulaan soum of Arkhangai aimag” said software engineer S. Munguntsetseg of Digital Medic company.
