It's not barbecued but bar-coded. Pork that carries a digital identification number, allowing consumers to log on to the Internet to check quality and safety information, went on sale yesterday in east China on the eve of the Year of the Pig.

The pork, which is produced by the biggest pig processing plant in Haiyan County, Zhejiang Qinglian Food Co Ltd, was available in more than 170 franchised stores in Zhejiang Province and Shanghai yesterday.

The company records detailed information about the pigs after they enter the abattoirs. The pork is priced two yuan (US$0.26) higher per kilo than meat without the barcode, according to the company.

This is the first time that Chinese consumers have been able to log on to the Internet to find out whether the meat they are eating contains unhealthy additives, antibiotics, or traces of heavy metals. They can even trace the people who fed the pigs and quarantined them.

A wholesale market in Shanghai signed a contract worth 500 million yuan (US$ 64.5 million) with the company yesterday to buy 500,000 such pigs in 2007.

Zhejiang Qinglian Food Co Ltd has been developing an enterprise resource planning system for over a year and 4,000 pig farmers, 60 percent of the county total, are registered in the system.

Administrators will easily be able to trace people responsible if a food safety accident occurs thanks to the digital identity system, said Sheng Yongjun, deputy head of Haiyan County.

"The system guarantees the safety of the meat products, increases farmers' income, and sets consumers' minds at ease," said Sheng.

The county will promote the digital identity system to other farmers and abattoirs to improve meat safety, said Sheng.

(Xinhua News Agency February 9, 2007)