Swine Identification Traceability Consultations “Round Two” to Begin Next Month

Farmscape Article 1939-October 15, 2005

The Canadian Pork Council’s (CPC) working group on hog identification and traceability is now making the final adjustments to a proposed national swine identification and traceability system in preparation for a full public review of the package next month.

The proposed system is based on a series of pilot studies that evaluated a range of methods for recording animal movement as well as identifiers, such as tags and tattoos. The program is being developed as a line of defense against foreign animal disease in the wake of several animal disease outbreaks including incidents involving BSE, foot and mouth disease and avian flue.

Round one of the consultations, which wrapped up last week, involved the provincial pork organizations and their boards of directors and included meetings in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec.

Round two will run through November and into early December and will involve a wider cross section of producers and other industry stakeholders. Both sets of consultations are intended to outline the why and how of swine identification and traceability and gather stakeholder input and suggestions.

Minimizing Foreign Animal Disease Risk Top Priority

“The main over riding reason (for identification and traceability) is to reduce the risk of a foreign animal disease in Canada and allow us to respond much more quickly,” states Dr. Daniel Hurnik of the Atlantic Swine Research Partnership, an industry research and development company based in Prince Edward Island.

Dr. Hurnik was on hand during the consultations to help outline what will be expected of producers under the plan and answer some of the more technical questions related to identifying animals and tracking the movement of livestock.

He explains, “Basically what we need in Canada is a registry of farm premises so that we know where all the farms are, what animals they have on them, and animal movement information so that we can say animals moved from this farm to this farm so we can track any potential disease much more effectively than we currently do.”

“In a nutshell, what producers will need to be able to do is record when ever they move pigs from one premise to another. When pigs are shipped from a farm they record the number of pigs that went and the license number of the truck that transported them. Similarly when somebody receives pigs they would record how many came, from where and the license plate.”

Necessary Data Already Being Maintained

“In many cases they’re keeping it (the information) on their own computer systems anyway,” Dr. Hurnik stresses.

Producers will be able to enter the information into a central database through an internet based computer connection. The working group is also exploring a touch tone phone or potentially a fax data entry system for those who don’t have a computer.

Dr. Hurnik says, “What we want to do is put that into a central computer system so that, if needed during a time of crisis, that can be retrieved.”

He adds, “This is information people have anyway but in a time of crisis it takes a long time to retrieve that from each farm. What we're proposing is that we have it readily available allowing Canada to respond very quickly to a crisis.”

Working Group Gratified By Response to Round One

“I was really pleased with the first round of consultations with regard to the blueprint of what will become the traceability system for the Canadian swine industry,” says working group Chairman Dennis McKerracher.

“The consultations proved to be very supportive of the direction that the committee has been going,” he says. “There was a general realization and support that we have to have enhancements to our current traceability system.”

McKerracher points out, “We spoke to over 70 people that are very involved in the pork industry and have background knowledge of traceability and those people that we spoke to across the country gave us their support and that was just so beneficial.”

CPC technical affairs specialist Francois Bedard agrees, “The first consultation round went very well.”

“I think the provincial pork organizations and their boards of directors had a good understanding of where we’re coming from and what we are proposing. They brought some interesting comments, some interesting questions.”

“In terms of the specific elements to the system, I’d say that there’s pretty much agreement around the table in terms of what is proposed in terms of actual work that needs to be performed in order to achieve traceability.”

Bedard maintains, “In terms of the specifics and what we propose – in terms of premise identification or tattoo number classification, a slaughter data base and as well a movement reporting system – those have been generally accepted and understood. The provincial pork organizations realize that needs to be done.”

ID and Traceability Consistent with CFIA Mandate

Richard Robinson, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) traceability and identification programs manager, also believes things went very well.

“I think it gave us an opportunity to have a good review and discussion of the various projects and answer any questions.”

He points out, “Our mandate includes both animal health and food safety. Certainly a traceability system supports that mandate. The other sectors where there are already national identification programs in place such as cattle, bison and sheep those programs are under our legislation and specifically the health of animal regulations.”

Round Two to Begin Early Next Month

With the preliminary round of consultations now complete, the working group continues to operate under an extremely tight schedule. Representatives met Thursday in Ottawa to discuss comments and review feedback from round one of the consultations. McKerracher says the package for round two will be finalized over the next week.

Round two is scheduled to start November 1 in Saskatoon. It moves to Portage La Prairie November 2; Charlottetown, PEI November 4; St-Hyacinthe, Quebec November 14; Red Deer, Alberta November 21; Guelph, Ontario November 28; and it wraps up in Abbotsford, BC December 1.

Bedard explains, “The second round of consultations is open to all industry stake holders so other livestock groups, government officials, producers, abattoirs, auction assembly yards. It’s basically open.”

He urges all industry stakeholders to check with their provincial pork organizations for dates and times then turn out to express their views.

Swine ID and Traceability Expected to Move Forward

The working group is expected to recommend the CFIA proceed with the necessary regulatory framework to support a national hog traceability program.

Robinson says that would involve amendments to the health of animals regulations to establish the framework for pigs. “We already have requirements for cattle bison and sheep...now pigs,” he points out.

He warns however, “We’re talking of a somewhat different concept in that there would be both individual animal identification for some pigs but also movement of pigs in groups without necessarily an identifier applied to the pig itself.”

He says regulations will have to be altered to accommodate that difference but he stresses, “That can only take place once the consultations have been completed and we know exactly what we want the program to look like.”

He adds, “Right now we do not have regulations in place for mandatory hog identification so those regulations would need to be developed.”

Robinson suggests, “We don't have much of an option. Traceability is a priority not only for the various industry sectors but also at the ministerial level. I think the consensus is that we have to move ahead. Other countries are moving ahead very quickly and we cannot be left behind. In the absence of a program we're just increasing our vulnerability to access foreign markets.”

Once round two of the consultations concludes it will be a matter of the CPC reviewing feedback and deciding the next course of action.

Robinson says, “In general, in terms of developing a regulation, that’s a process that can take 18 months or so.”

“It's not necessarily a quick process but we can only initiate that process once there is consensus to move ahead.”

Staff Farmscape.Ca