Today's Date:   Tuesday January 8, 2013

1. LIVESTOCK ISSUES

FMD detected on a swine farm located in Sichuan Province, China. [Korean: BYK]

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=104&oid=001&aid=0006027753

Summary: The Chinese government announced on January 8^th that FMD has been found at a swine slaughter plant. 

2. MARKETING ISSUES

Country of Origin Labeling in Restaurants to be Strengthened … COO Signs to Become As Big As Menu Names [Korean, OSY]

http://news.donga.com/3/all/20130107/52117927/1

Summary: Ministry of Agriculture and Food announced implementation rules of the ‘Agricultural Product Origin Labeling Act’ on January 7, which will go into effect on June 28, 2013.  According to the rules, origins of food materials used should appear on both the menu book and board.  Size of origin letters on the menu should be as big or bigger than the name of menu.  The number of food materials mandated for COO labeling will be increased from 12 to 16.  Newly added products are goat meat, Pollack, mackerel, and hairtail.

3. MIFAFF PRESS RELEASES

►         MIFAFF to move ahead with Golden Seed Project… Moves ahead with announcement to recruit person to head the project

►         MIFAFF announces plan to strengthen COO label in restaurants, making it mandatory to print the COO with the same font size as the name of the dish.  As for dishes using ingredients from various countries, the COO must be listed in the order that the largest portion of the ingredient came from.  The total number of dishes to be mandated for listing the COO will be increased from 12 different dishes to 16 different types of dishes.

4. aT PUBLIC NOTICE OF STATE TRADING