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IMPORTANCE: A mandatory animal identification system plays three vital roles for America’s pork producers and consumers: strengthens the security of the nation’s livestock industry, especially in the event of an intentional introduction of a pathogen or toxin that could affect animal health; provides U.S. pork producers and federal and state animal health officials with improved tools to manage swine herd health through disease surveillance, control and eradication programs; and enables U.S. pork producers to maintain and promote access to international markets, which are critical to the continued viability of the pork industry.
BACKGROUND: The U.S. pork industry has been committed to mandatory animal identification for more than 20 years. The U.S. pork industry’s commitment to mandatory identification was part of the Pseudorabies Eradication Program that created a system for identifying premises with infected and exposed animals. This ultimately led to the successful eradication of the disease from the commercial swine herd. Premises registration – knowing where U.S. pigs are raised – is the foundation of the U.S. swine identification system.
With the detection of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in the U.S. in 2003 and the growing number of animal disease outbreaks around the world, USDA announced the creation of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) in 2004. NAIS was developed to allow state and federal animal health officials to quickly identify livestock and poultry that may have been exposed to a disease. The database to administer premises registration numbers will be maintained by USDA and the states; the database to maintain animal identification numbers will be maintained by tag manufactures. Animal tracking databases that maintain the movement records of animals will be managed by the industry and the states. One of the key functions of the system is to identify within 48 hours all premises and animals that have had direct contact with an animal disease. This system will help ensure rapid disease containment and maximum protection of U.S. animal health.
While USDA has been moving forward on NAIS, NPPC remains concerned about its lack of a coherent implementation strategy for NAIS and about how federal funding has been utilized since the animal ID system’s inception.
NPPC POSITION: NPPC strongly supports a mandatory animal identification system across all livestock, dairy and poultry species where each industry develops an effective and affordable ID system for its respective species. Having such a mandatory system in place would enhance U.S. animal health officials’ ability to trace diseased or exposed animals to their farm of origin and identify other potentially exposed premises within 48 hours after the discovery of a disease. NPPC opposes reporting all animal movements because it is too cumbersome and expensive. NPPC also supports the allocation of federal funds to help support a mandatory animal identification system for all relevant livestock species.
NPPC CONTACT: Liz Wagstrom, DVM, Chief Veterinarian, 202-347-3600, wagstroml@nppc.org.
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