National Traceability NAIS-Update “Protecting Animal Agriculture”

Today’s Disease Risk Intensification and Globalization 23,580 Shipments = Over 17 million animals

Do We Need a more Effective Disease Traceability System? Enhance disease response – Goal “to identify premises and animals that had direct contact with diseases of concern within 48 hours after discovery.” Reduce impact of animal health incidents or agro-terrorism events Improve our response to animal emergency events Industry and Producer Benefits – Maintain confidence in animal products – Gain market access and consumer demand

Not a New Concept Animal Health officials have performed individual identification of certain animals and premises (locations with livestock and poultry) for over a century Used to identify and test animals for diseases – Brucellosis (Since 1940’s) Used to identify vaccinated heifers for brucellosis Identified individual animals with a unique tag Linked to a location at time of vaccination

Remember Why !! Today, animal health officials can not effectively respond to disease threats with current animal ID & traceability programs. – Tuberculosis - CA, MI, MN, TX (02,04, 05, 07-08) – Exotic Newcastle Disease – AZ, CA, NV, TX (02, 03) – High Path Avian Influenza –TX (04) – Vesicular Stomatitis – CO, ID, MT, NM, TX, UT, WY (03, 04, 05, 06) – BSE – AL, TX, WA, (04-06) – Brucellosis – ID, TX, WY(06-07) – Equine Herpes Virus – CA, CO, CT, FL, KY, NJ, VA (06,07)

Poor Animal Traceability Will Cost Producers Money 1999 UC Davis Disease Study (Ekboir) Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak would result in $6 to $14 billion in losses to the agriculture industry Loss of $1 to $3 million for every hour delay in tracking the index animal/herd

Traceability It’s all about Foot and Mouth Disease and BSE, right?

Traceability No! CDFA conducts disease tracing all year CDFA conducted 215 Brucellosis investigations in 2006 with some years as high as 600 investigations. Other diseases of interest included Trichomonosis, TB, and diseases associated with other species (scrapie). Identification and good records are critical for tracking down the source of the problem. Resources and personnel investigate each event with the best available tools (I.e., paper records, rancher’s memory).

National Animal ID System (NAIS) Established in 2002 Industry leaders developed the U.S. Animal Identification Plan Cooperative State-Federal-Industry program USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) administers the system Voluntary program 48 hour traceability objective

National Animal ID System PIN- Premises ID Number – 7 digit alphanumeric (A123R45) AIN-Animal Identification Number – 15 digit numeric ( ) Animal Tracing – Date of event – Type of event (move in, move out) – AIN – PIN

Animal Identification USDA is technology neutral – Specifies that the official identification number is the visible number – Electronic or identification is considered supplementary Cattle Species Working Group (SWG) recommended visible low frequency Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in left ear Equine SWG recommends RFID microchip

Animal Identification & Tracing 7 manufacturers 22 RFID and visual tags approved 2 microchip transponder 5 fully compliant animal tracing databases 12 tracing databases in development

Tier 1 Primary food animals – Cattle, Swine, Poultry (Chickens and Turkeys), Sheep, and Goats Equine – competition horse industry Tier 2 All other livestock Prioritization of species/sectors

Focus where enhancements offer the greatest value/merit Disease risk Human health risk Capability of existing infrastructure Economic merit Potential for disease spread Prioritization of species/sectors

LowMediumHigh Ovine (Sheep) Aquatics 1 Porcine (Swine) Equine (Horses) 2 Poultry (Chickens and Turkeys) Cervid 1 (Deer & Elk) Caprine (Goats) Bovine (Cattle)

Harmonization Work with government and industry programs – Breed associations – Alliances – Agricultural Marketing Services-QSA and PVP – COOL International efforts – Mexico & Canada

Convergence and Integration Integration with disease programs Uniform standards for data collection PIN will be the only location identifier for disease programs Apply to Interstate Certificates of Veterinary Inspection (ICVI’s)

Partnership and Collaboration Work with states to advance traceability Collaboration with Industry Partners – Veterinarians – Brand Inspection – USAIO – Angus Association – FFA – Packers and Renders – IMI Global/ Humane Farm Animal Care – IDairy

Final Thoughts Investigation of disease events takes place on a frequent basis and not every 10 to 20 years. Current premises identification, animal identification, and animal tracing tools are not adequate to effectively manage animal diseases or incidents. The livestock industry has an opportunity to shape a national traceability program, but it will take active participation to make it your program!

Questions