Tracability in meat processing: The administrative tracability.

During the last years, the meat sector has been shaken by several scandals such as the hormones, the dioxin... with as a result a lost of confidence f rom the consumer and a meat market disruption. In order to restore the Belg ian meat products image, it is important to be able to determine and to gua rantee their origin. In Belgium, several administrative tracability systems exist of which the principal is the SANITEL system including an automatic treatment system of data related to animal identification and registration. Beyond the legal and statutory aspects, different initiatives, to improve t he quality, blossom : " The Labels". These frequently integrate the tracabi lity in their specifications. The administrative tracability is not infallible; the lost of documents and the frauds may tarnish its image. Therefore the documentary system has bee n associated with the animal genetic footprints.