(Cheongju=Yonhap News) Reporter Jeon Chang-hae = On the 10th, the North Chungcheong Provincial Government announced that it will allow the mobile sale of livestock products using vehicles in some vulnerable areas within Yeongdong County starting from the 11th.
This is the first such measure within the province since the revision of the 'Livestock Hygiene Management Act Enforcement Decree' last August.
Until now, the sale of livestock products was not possible in food mobile sales vehicles operating in agricultural and fishing villages where there are no food retail stores and a high percentage of elderly population.
In response to the 'food desertification' phenomenon where food retail stores are disappearing, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety revised the relevant enforcement decree, allowing agricultural cooperatives or associations to use vehicles to sell 'refrigerated/frozen packaged meat' as store managers.
However, store managers can only sell in specific locations designated by the provincial governor using vehicles equipped with refrigeration/freezing facilities, and must comply with the 'North Chungcheong Province Livestock Mobile Sales Vehicle Operation and Management Guidelines'.
This time, mobile sales of livestock products are allowed in 32 villages in Yeongdong-eup, Yanggang-myeon, Simcheon-myeon, and Yongsan-myeon in Yeongdong County.
These villages are reported to have a rapidly declining population and high aging, with no decent food retail stores within a 5 km radius, and significant inconvenience in using transportation facilities.
The province plans to temporarily allow mobile sales only during the winter season (November to March) when the risk of food safety accidents such as food poisoning is relatively low, and to adjust the sales period and areas through on-site inspections and other means in the future.
Kim Won-seol, the head of the Animal Quarantine Division of the province, said, "We expect that this allowance of mobile sales of livestock products will become an opportunity to alleviate the inconvenience of residents in areas with declining population in the province who have difficulty purchasing livestock products."