SAN ANTONIO (DTN) — USDA’s final outline of its animal disease traceability program could be rolled out as early as this month, its project manager told animal health experts at a conference on Wednesday.
“Our target has been to publish in April so it is going through the clearance process. That takes time. It’s on its way. A specific date is hard to say but it should be published here this spring,” Neil Hammerschmidt said of the National Animal Identification System’s replacement program.
USDA has been working on an animal identification system since the 1990s. The concept briefly gained momentum from 2003 to 2005 as the U.S. found three cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy that effectively shut down U.S. exports of beef. But livestock producers fought against a USDA plan for a mandatory, national system. USDA determined it would be a voluntary program, and then decentralized the effort to include state veterinarians and a broader array of identification methods. Read more…
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