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South Korea will launch a new unified quarantine agency to handle farm and fisheries products in an effort to strengthen the country's ability to protect public health and local industries from animal and plant diseases, the government said Tuesday.
The Animal, Plant and Fisheries Quarantine and Inspection Agency (QIA), set to start work on Wednesday, aims to prevent a repeat of the recent foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak that forced the government to cull more than 3.47 million pigs and cows at a cost of over 3 trillion won (US$2.77 billion), the farm ministry said.
The QIA will be created by merging the National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service, the National Plant Quarantine Service and the National Fisheries Products Quality Inspection Service.
The unified quarantine office is expected to streamline the country's response time to various outbreaks and make it easier to coordinate decontamination efforts that can safeguard public health and protect local livestock, fisheries and farming sectors, it said.
The Animal, Plant and Fisheries Quarantine and Inspection Agency (QIA), set to start work on Wednesday, aims to prevent a repeat of the recent foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak that forced the government to cull more than 3.47 million pigs and cows at a cost of over 3 trillion won (US$2.77 billion), the farm ministry said.
The QIA will be created by merging the National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service, the National Plant Quarantine Service and the National Fisheries Products Quality Inspection Service.
The unified quarantine office is expected to streamline the country's response time to various outbreaks and make it easier to coordinate decontamination efforts that can safeguard public health and protect local livestock, fisheries and farming sectors, it said.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2011/06/14/19/0501000000AEN20110614006300320F.HTML
