| Farmscape for May 28, 2003 (Episode 1250)
The Canadian Pork Council is striving to a have system in place in under two years that will allow authorities to track the movement of all hogs produced in Canada.
The CPC National Hog Identification and Traceability System working Committee has just started work on developing a national system to provide the ability to track the movement of livestock in Canada.
The committee includes representation from various government departments, the CPC, provincial hog organizations, government departments and veterinarians.
Its mandate is to develop traceability and establish zoning which allow the economic impact of a reportable or foreign animal disease outbreak to be contained to the area in which it occurs.
Committee Chair Edouard Asnong says the work is really just getting underway.
Clip-Edouard Asnong-Canadian Pork Council
We are looking at as short a time frame as possible.
If we conduct a pilot project to define which identifier or tag that we put on an animal would be the best one, that the animal would not lose would and is readable...that could take two years or at least one year to develop that knowledge.
Certainly during that time we are able to work out what kind of database we need and what kind of information we need to collect.
We also need to know where the farms are, where all the premises are, and that can be done right now.
Asnong says a complete knowledge of the movement of livestock is needed so that, if it becomes necessary to trace an animal, it can be done from one province to another and in some cases from one area within a province.
He says, at this point, authorities are considering the prospects of dividing the country into two zones...and eastern zone and a western zone.
He says the deadline was yesterday but, to be realistic, a working system needs to be in place within two years.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.
*Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council |