농식품 이력관리체계 확대 및 활성화 방안 연구

Abstract

소득수준 향상과 고령화 등으로 소비자의 식품 안전성에 대한 관심이 매우 높은 반면, 수입 농식품의 증가와 산업화·과학의 발달에 따른 위해물질의 등장으로 소비자의 식품 안전에 대한 불안이 빠르게 증가하고 있다. 최근 들어 식품 안전사고가 증가하고, 가축 질병의 확산과 원산지 허위표시 적발 등으로 소비자의 불신이 더욱 확산되고 정책의 신뢰도가 크게 저하된 상태이다. 이력관리제도는 안전성 확보를 위해 단계별로 정보를 기록, 관리하는 것을 목적으로 추진되었다. 이력관리제도는 2006년에 농산물에 대해서 시행된 이후 2008년에는 수산물과 소 및 쇠고기 이력관리가 도입되고, 2009년부터는 식품 이력관리제도가 추진되고 있다.

이력관리제도가 정부 주도로 적극 추진되어 왔음에도 불구하고 식품별 추진체계가 크게 상이하여 이력관리 방향과 목적이 불분명하며, 효율적인 추진체계로 운영되어 왔다고 평가하기 어려운 상황이다. 쇠고기 이외의 농식품에 대한 이력관리제도의 경우 농가와 관련 업체의 참여가 매우 저조하다.

이 연구는 식품 안전사고 발생 시 신속한 대응 체계를 구축하고 안전한 식품 선택을 위한 소비자 알권리를 확보하기 위해 농·수·축산식품 이력관리제도의 추진방향을 재정립하고, 효율적인 회수기반 구축 등 활성화 방안을 마련하고자 추진되었다.

The purpose of this research is to establish prompt response system at the time when food safety accidents are occurred, to re-establish traceability system for agricultural, fisheries and livestock food products in order secure consumers' right to know for the selection of safe foods, and to prepare an activation plan for establishing base for efficient food recall. As the issue of emergent response at the time of the occurrence of food related accidents are emerged as urgent tasks, traceability system was started to be introduced with Europe as the center. In our country, traceability system for agricultural products was implemented in 2006, traceability system for fisheries products, cattle and beef was implemented in 2008 and for food in 2009. The laws concerning traceability systems were scattered around by the category of food and the purpose of managing respective systems was not clearly defined while showing significant differences in terminologies, items to be recorded, method of labelling and provisions for punishments as well. As the system are operated with the structure of multiple systems by category of food, the problems such as unnecessary division of similar works and the possibility to make consumers confused are incurred. And also the problems such as different emphasis steps by system and absence of linkage between systems are appeared as well. The result of questionnaire survey on consumers revealed that consumers who considered the existence of traceability system at the time of purchase of food were very little, and the consumers who responded that they knew the term 'traceability system' were not more than 6.6%. The item which showed the highest need for traceability system in the survey was byproducts of cattle while in most cases the needs for traceability system for meats were highly evaluated. The result also revealed that more than 60% of consumers had intention to check traceability information at the stores or at home when they purchase beef, fisheries products or agricultural products in the future. There was a trend for the preference toward the registration and management via computer system as a method of record tracking and managing but consumers perceived the items such as rice, fruits and vegetables as the items for which management via transaction records is relatively more appropriate. For the purpose of traceability system, it is evaluated to be more important to make tracing or recall easy at the time of the occurrence of food accidents in the case of meat, processed meat products, fisheries products, restaurants and school meals. The importance of post-management such as monitoring and enforcement was presented by consumers as a method to activate traceability system. The implications from the traceability systems of major countries can be summarized as the obligatory implementation of cattle and beef traceability system, self-regulating implementation of the systems for the items other than cattle and beef, emphasis on the possibility of record tracing as the purpose of traceability system, and system development and guideline establishment as the role of government for voluntary implementation items. The direction for the implementation of traceability system for agricultural food was set to make the system consistent with international standards and to aim for the activation of traceability system by clearly setting the purpose of the system. Direct purpose of traceability system is to secure the possibility of tracing pursuant to records and management by step, and items such as providing information to consumers or efficient control of products and quality can be selectively stipulated as additional purposes. It is desirable to implement the traceability system for agricultural foods by categorizing the system into two different structures of the expansion of base for record tracing and the improvement of traceability system. For the expansion of base for record tracing, it is necessary to adopt legislative adjustments for the supplementation of the regulations concerning recording and documenting throughout the process of food transactions. Traceability system for agricultural products, fisheries products and processed foods requires the review on the legislative integration of pertinent regulations while, on a short-term, supplementing the provisions of regulations to make linkage between systems and making adjustments by system for the contradictory provisions related to terminology, items for indication, method of indication and management. In order to improve traceability systems which are currently implemented either on obligatory or voluntary basis, actions for the improvement of operating method, the reinforcement of linkage and the creation of base for the system should be taken. Obligatory object items should be decided considering the level of concern, the possibility of changing country of origin and socio-cultural importance, and the priority of review should be given in the order of pork and byproducts of cattle. In the case of beef which is being implemented on obligation basis, it will be necessary to expand the scope of coverage to food service area, but it should be approached at the level of making transaction records obligation requiring the indication of country of origin only to consumers. For the items such as milk, egg and meat processed products, ground provisions should be prepared so that traceability system can be implemented voluntarily. In the case of the traceability system which is subject to voluntary implementation, applicable companies have to introduce on voluntary basis for quality control or marketing purpose while government plays a role for giving guideline and supporting in terms of system development and supply. In order to ensure efficient implementation of traceability system, it is necessary to reinforce the linkage between the system. For the system for beef which is implemented on obligation basis, the management works between domestic beef and imported beef should be linked each other. For traceability system for agricultural, fisheries and processed foods, it is necessary to review the integration of laws and systems, interaction between system and cooperative system for post management. And also it is necessary to actively implement publicity to consumers to secure consumers' awareness and accessibility through the integration of homepages of traceability systems.

Researchers: Lee Kyei-Im, Hwang Yun-Jae, Woo Byung-Joon, Cho So-Hyun and Jeong Se-Mi Research period: 2011. 5. - 2011. 11. E-mail address: lkilki@krei.re.kr