General

In the European Union, Brazil, Uruguay, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Botswana and other countries, an identification system and a complete traceability system for raising animals have been established for food safety. The main identification system is realized by wearing a bar code label on the animal’s ears. The bar code label contains all the animal’s data, such as vaccination status, disease records, and changes to the head of the breeding household. It records all the animal’s life experience.

Once the raised animals are sent to the slaughterhouse, barcode labels will continue to be associated with meat and hides. The seminar demonstrated different traceability system tools. The slaughterhouse will permanently retain the markings of animal skins, which can be tracked throughout the production process.

Leather benefits from food industry technology

Consumers are increasingly inclined to purchase products produced in a responsible and sustainable manner using traceable materials, and consumer pursuits have a positive impact on environmental protection and product quality.

In Europe, food safety regulations require traceability. In fact, all meat products can be traced back to the source of animals. It is only a matter of time and technical means to extend the traceability of the meat industry to the leather industry. The key is that after chemical and mechanical processing of the hides, the marking information remains permanently.

In developing and emerging countries where there is no legislation on food safety traceability, this will be a long and difficult process. Not only in developing countries, but in the United States, most cattle farmers are reluctant to wear labels on their cattle for financial reasons.

Our taxpayers' money provides more than 100 billion U.S. dollars in development assistance to developing countries each year, and part of the funds goes to the leather industry. These funds have achieved some results in increasing the added value of hide export. The export of raw skins is decreasing, while the export of wet blue leather, embryo leather and finished leather is increasing, and the added value of exports is increasing.

If brands and distributors decide to purchase all traceable leathers, then decades of investment in development assistance for the African leather industry will be in vain, because their non-traceable leathers cannot meet the requirements of brand owners and cannot be sold. . This will result in the closure of their tannery enterprises, and thousands of unemployed workers will return to poverty. Once this happens, it runs counter to the sustainability, responsibility and professional ethics we advocate.

In countries where there is no traceability system, people are talking about the identification of cattle, goats and sheep. Logically speaking, it is for meat safety, not for traceability of leather. It is estimated that after a few years, it will still remain on the table. Discussion topics on the. Some non-governmental organizations, the United Nations and government organizations participating in this discussion are only enthusiastic about project discussions and have not made any substantial progress.

The current situation is that a cattle born in Libya may be sold to Chad, and Chad herders have crossed the border to come to Nigeria with the cattle. The Nigerian rancher sold the cow to a slaughterhouse in Cameroon, and the cowhide was sold to local merchants in Cameroon. So far, there is no trace of the identity of the cow.

The first record is in leather exports, such as finished leather processed in India, sold to China, processed into handbags and exported to Europe. The reality is that the more unstable the political situation, the more difficult it is to trace back. Currently, traceability in developing countries is only wishful thinking.

Promote the traceability system and source of funds

It is totally unethical to deprive developing and emerging countries of their livelihoods, but on the other hand, if these suppliers want to survive, they should introduce a traceability system. Therefore, we need to find a solution. The solution does not depend on NGOs or the United Nations, but on the import standards of the government of the exporting country and the purchasing country.

National leather industry associations that have not yet implemented a traceability system need to lobby their governments to introduce legislation and introduce a traceability system, whether it is a professional farm or private farming. If there is no labeling and related traceability system, the future export of hides and leather will be Will be severely affected.

For raw leather buyers in developing and emerging countries, they need to encourage suppliers of raw leather that provide traceability. An ear tag barcode only costs a few cents and can be controlled and recorded by veterinary institutions in various countries, which are common in rural areas.

Of course, the funds for the implementation of the traceability system are borne by the brand owners, who need traceability and make huge profits from it. Therefore, I hope they will actively participate in the implementation of the traceability system.