| Last
December when USDA confirmed the first case of bovine spongiform
encephalopathy in the United States, the livestock and meat
industries quickly pointed to the multiple firewalls that
had already been in place to stop the spread of BSE and
eradicate it from the U.S. beef herd. The aim was to allay
consumer fears about the safety of beef. The efforts of
the producers and packers worked. Except for a slight drop
early in the situation, the public kept eating beef. The
only area still affected by the BSE scare is exports. And
I expect those issues will be resolved by the end of 2006
– or sooner.
Now
the U.S. livestock industry must build another firewall.
However, this one won't just be for cattle; it will cover
other food-animal species. This firewall is the national
livestock identification plan. The first phase of the national
livestock identification system – set to start next month
-- focuses on identifying livestock premises including ranches,
farms, feedlots, markets, exhibitions, and processing plants.
The second phase will involve identifying individual animals.
Depending on the difficulty of completing Phase 1, Phase
2 – which will identify individual animals -- will begin
in 2006.
The
main purpose Nationwide Livestock Identification Act is
to protect animal and human health from disease outbreaks
including terrorist attacks. “We want to be able to track
animals within a 48-hour time period,” Bill Hawks, Under
Secretary for USDA's Marketing and Regulatory Programs,
said last spring. “It's very important for disease control
purposes to do that. We want to know where the animals have
been.” The federal 2005 budget contains $33 million in funding
to get the identification plan up and running. A long list
of trade associations – including the American Meat Institute,
National Cattlemen's Beef Association, National Pork Producers
Council and the North American Deer Farmers Association
have signed on to the plan.
The
national livestock identification plan sounds like a done-deal.
It is a sound, logical plan, it is being funded, and it
enjoys broad industry support. Not so fast. Some people
in the industry are asking some pretty tough questions.
These questions need to be answered before the plan moves
to far.
One
question is: How confidential will the identification records
be? Some ranchers and processors are concerned that an animal
rights group or some other organization could use the information
to damage their businesses or operations. Under the Freedom
of Information Act, a lot of information that the public
thinks is confidential is available to anyone who asks –
and is willing to jump through a few hoops.
Another
question is: Will the identification program become mandatory?
Actually it should. It is unlikely that the few substandard
producers and processor will participate in a voluntary
program. By holding the feet of these operators to the fire,
the quicker they will depart from the industry.
A
third question is: Can the identification information be
used to hold a rancher or feedlot operator liable for a
recall or foodborne illness-related lawsuit? It is one thing
to sue a processor for selling contaminated meat. However,
can the liability be spread up stream?
Without
a doubt a national livestock identification plan will benefit
the U.S. meat industry beyond simply disease prevention.
Other countries have identification systems in place. Perhaps
if the United States had a plan, import bans would be shorter
and U.S. and foreign consumers would have more confidence
in the safety of U.S. meat.
The
identification plan also provides livestock producers with
a powerful tool for measuring and improving desirable meat
quality traits. An industry sage once said: “You can't improve
what you can't measure."
“A
national system would provide benefits to industry in terms
of market access and consumer demands,” Glenn Slack, president
and CEO of the National Institute for Animal Agriculture,
said. “Source and process verification are gaining consumer
momentum, providing producers with an added value opportunity.
Also, livestock and animal products from the U.S. are highly
marketable worldwide. Assuring animal traceability through
animal identification adds value to the product.”
Clearly,
the national livestock identification plan has an important
function in the U.S. livestock and meat industries. Our
role is to make certain it is implemented properly.
Dom
Castaldo, Ph.D.
Editor
MeatNews.com
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