Traceability systems and origin based meat products in the South African sheep meat industry

摘要

In a consumer-driven world, consumers want to experience a connectionbetween the product that they are consuming and the product’s origin. Toguarantee the validity of this connection and therefore the origin attribute ofthe product, traceability systems are required. The main purpose of this paperis to assess current traceability systems implemented in South African sheepabattoirs, thereby establishing their ability to guarantee the origin of a carcass.Research indicated that the South African sheep abattoirs have traceabilitysystems in place and they can guarantee the origin of a meat product. Thedescriptive analysis and hypothesis tests identified the tipping factor for theimplementation of a traceability system, as the requirement from retail marketsto which these abattoirs deliver their product.