Patent ID: 6878052

Claim:
A method for controlling and authenticating quality and origin by means of electronic tagging, electronic surveillance and positioning of livestock, meat and meat products via networks for data and telecommunication and position determining means, comprising the steps of: providing an animal at birth with at least one electronic tag, comprising communication means and an identification code; updating at least one network connected database wirelessly from the at least one tag through the code to at least one receiver connected to the position determining means and a time determining means and in connection with the at least one database, registering time—and positioning information related to the animal; providing additional information about the animal to the at least one database; authorizing out of the additional information at least one of slaughtering and distributing actions for the purpose of at least one of meat production, meat product manufacturing and breeding; scanning and replacing the at least one electronic tag, when the animal is slaughtered, with an additional electronic tag for each piece of meat cut up at the time of slaughter, wherein each additional tag comprises communication means and a code connecting to said at least one database, registering time—and positioning information related to the meat via the at least one receiver; and scanning and removing the additional electronic tags from the cut-up pieces of meat when refining the meat into packaged products and wherein each packaged product subsequently is provided with a replacement tag comprising communication means and a code connecting to the at least one database, registering time—and positioning information related to the meat products via the at least one receiver; and thus having an unbroken chain of time—and positioning information and additional information providing an enhanced means for detecting and avoiding livestock, meat and meat products having been positioned in areas where sickness has been known during an animals lifetime or time as meat or meat product, and the continuity in time and positioning information together with the additional information providing traceability and verifiability of the quality and origin of the animals, meat and meat products.