The Korea Consumer Agency (President: Young-seen Kim, www.kca.go.kr) concluded an MOU with the Animal, Plant and Fisheries Quarantine and Inspection Agency of Korea (Head: Young-ho Park, www.qia.go.kr) to improve hygiene level of agricultural, livestock, and fishery products on Oct. 5^th. 

The MOU conclusion came after the two Agencies realized the importance of strengthening consumer rights and interests in food area with growing interest in food safety in recent days.

Based on the MOU conclusion, the Agencies is going to cooperate in various projects including hygienic control of agricultural, livestock, and fishery products, safety inspection, country-of-origin inspection, and certification system management, conduct a joint research for developing hygienic management technologies, and greatly reinforce consumer safety works.   

According to the KCA, the MOU is expected to be a good starting point to generate a synergy effect for consumer empowerment in agricultural, livestock, fishery products if specialized skill, data, and testing facilities of the Quarantine and Inspection Agency are effectively combined with human resources and contents of the KCA.

The QIA was set up on June 15^th this year as an integrated agency of the National Veterinary Research & Quarantine Service (NVRQS), the National Plant Quarantine Service (NPQS), and the National Fisheries Products Quality Inspection Service (NFPQIS).