Comment Period Closes on Animal Disease Traceability Project

WASHINGTON, DC – The official comment period for a national Animal Disease Traceability framework closed at midnight on Monday, but not before many industry groups submitted ideas to USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The framework was established to improve the ability to trace cattle and bison through the supply chain. Though APHIS admits the ability to trace animals will not prevent disease outbreaks but will allow State and Federal officials to contain potentially devastating disease outbreaks before they can cause substantial damage to the U.S. cattle industry. Groups like the United States Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) submitted comments in the Federal Register calling on USDA to use the information only for disease tracking and for no other purposes. Although USDA is offering RF identification (RFID) ear tags at no cost to states and veterinarians, USCA believes producers should have certainty by making sure that all costs – including future requirements – will not fall on the back of producers. In addition, USCA suggested that APHIS embrace Ultra High Frequency (UHF) tags over low-frequency equivalents crediting a pilot program that is currently in place in Kansas. U.S. CattleTrace is a project from cattle groups in Kansas, Florida, Texas, and Kentucky and can be found online at www.uscattletrace.org
(SOURCE: All Ag News)