Canada - Proposed National Swine Traceability System to be Unveiled

Starting next month Canadian swine producers will be given the opportunity to examine the first draft of a proposed national swine traceability system. The system, which is being developed by the Canadian Pork Council's Hog Traceability Working Group, is based on a series of pilot studies that evaluated methods for recording animal movement as well as identifiers, such as tags and tattoos.

The working group is made up of swine producers from across Canada as well as representatives of the provincial pork organizations, the federal government including the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and processors.

Business Plan Close to Complete

"According to CPC Technical Affairs Specialist Francois Bedard, the business plan that will be presented is very close to complete. “There are three pillars of the business plan in a nutshell. It's to, one, identify animals, identify location so the premises, the building or the locations where animals are housed or assembled. The last pillar is to be able to track the movements.”

“We broke it down into four different elements,” Bedard continues. “One is premise identification and registration. We are actually also working on capturing slaughter data information, mostly in the western provinces because there are no marketing boards in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.”

He says, “We are also standardizing our tattoo number scheme in Canada, trying to have a national tattoo number for market hogs going to slaughter.”

“The fourth element is the details that pertain to which animals need identification and which circumstances are acceptable for group identification and the reporting and the recording of the movement data of those animals.”

Producers Expected to Assume Additional Responsibilities

University of Prince Edward Island Swine Industry Chair Dr. Daniel Hurnik says the ultimate goal is to introduce a system that will allow traceability and yet be practical on the farm. “The key elements of the traceability proposal will be to ask producers to record movements of pigs between farms, or premises.”

He says, “[Producers will need to] record the movements of pigs as they leave from one [premise] and where they come from and where they go as well as some transportation information and record that into a system that is easily retrievable if needed in a time of foreign animal disease crisis.”

“For animals that move through channels where we don’t know where they’ll end up ear tags or some other permanent identifier, but most likely ear tags, will be used so that the animals can be quickly traced. It doesn't matter where they’re found.”

“Also for breeding stock which normally carry a permanent identifier that will be used also for traceability purposes if needed,” he adds.

Consultations Slated for Fall 2005

Two rounds of consultations are planned with the first scheduled to begin late next month and the second set to take place in late October or early November.

Working Group Chair Dennis McKerracher says, “These consultations are really designed to address the fact that before a national program is launched it is important that all the stakeholders who will be involved in its delivery comment on the structure and the feasibility.”

Round one, the preliminary round, will involve directors of the various provincial pork organizations and the second round will involve a larger cross section of stakeholders.

Proposed Traceability Structure to be Outlined

McKerracher says, “It [the consultation] is really to explain the involvement of the provinces in the system with regards to farm registry, tattooing of the animals and the involvement of what the producers would have to do at the farm level.”

“This is a true consultation where we have mapped out or we have a blueprint of the how of traceability and now we’re looking for the provincial pork organizations to comment on that,” he continues. “After the comments have been received [from the preliminary round] we will look at our system again and then we will come back out to the country and look at a second round of consultations which will involve the larger audience, members of the value chain.”

New Legislation Could be Necessary

Dr. Hurnik adds, “There may also be a requirement for some legislative changes to allow CFIA access to this type of information and for industry to be able to access it. It [the consultation] will determine if legislation is needed and what is the best way to make this go forward.”

While the swine industry is looking forward to having a working system in place as quickly as possible, the consultations are expected to help determine some firm timelines for implementation.

Dr. Hurnik stresses, “This can happen in stages. It doesn’t all have to happen at once. We can first work with having a registry of farm premises followed by then a beginning of a movement recording process so that this doesn't have to happen all at once. It can happen progressively with time.”

Exact Timing Difficult to Predict

Bedard points out, “The national livestock premise registry is a multi-species initiative so it’s hard to tell when that will be up and running. It’s the key element of any traceability system so we hope in the next year, year and a half, that that will be up and running and we'll be able to register premises.”

“In terms of the national tattoo number strategy and the regional slaughter information databases those are currently moving ahead and we hope by next year, summer of 2006, that will be in place.”

As for the national ID and movement reporting system, Bedard says “There’s much work needed for that and we’re looking at a phased in approach and slowly bringing the different elements into the industry and having them implemented by 2008.”