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National Swine ID System

The Pork Industry Identification Working Group (PIIWG) submitted a proposal to USDA in July outlining how the swine industry would proceed with implementation of a national animal ID system. The proposal described adoption of the numbering formats for premise identification, individual animal ID and group/lot designations as established by USDA as part of the National Animal ID System (NAIS). It also delineated how the industry would accomplish the task of identifying individual animals such as culls and show pigs as they move through commercial channels.

Following the submission of this proposal, swine producers met with the Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns and APHIS officials to describe the industry's plan for moving forward to begin addressing the needs for a uniform animal identification system in the swine industry. This plan calls for the modification of the existing identification requirements associated with the successful PRV eradication program. The existing program would be modified, as described in the PIIWG's document, to comply with the requirements identified by USDA as necessary to allow for a 48 hour trace back of animals to address animal health issues. The producers also thanked USDA for their leadership in defining the data items necessary to achieve the goals of the NAIS and for establishing the data formats needed to standardize premise and animal identification nationally. It was the recommendation of producers that USDA now step back and charge the individual species groups with the task of developing an identification system that worked best for their individual species while ensuring compliance with the national program.

The swine industry has had mandatory identification requirements in place since 1988 requiring that all swine in interstate commerce must be identified and records concerning identification must be maintained (53 FR 40378, October 14, 1988). This requirement greatly facilitated the PRV eradication program which was developed by producers in cooperation with the USDA. The identification requirements have been accepted by producers and the associated costs of identification and record-keeping are built into today's production systems. Over the years of the eradication program, countless animals have been traced back successfully proving the effectiveness of the existing program. Swine producers are confident that by modifying the existing program to adopt the numbering formats as described by USDA, the current system will achieve the 48 hour trace back goal without adding additional costs and burdens on producers.

Under this proposal, all animal movements would continue to be recorded and these records maintained by producers as part of a normal business transaction. Interstate and international movements, as well as movements associated with a change of ownership, would be reported to the government through the existing system of Certificates of Veterinary Inspection (CVIs or "Health Certificates") or Interstate Movement Records (IMRs) as they are today. Again, as in the current system, movements directly to slaughter and intrastate movements would not be reported.

Producers also proposed the establishment of a Swine ID Control Board modeled after the PRV Eradication Control Board. The ID Control Board would be comprised of representatives from the pork industry and state and federal governments. Its purpose would be to administer the program and evaluate the need for future modifications to the system as the program matures. These modifications would include such issues as the need for a centralized database and questions of confidentiality of data. The producers did not offer an opinion regarding the need for a centralized database or whether it should be privately or publicly maintained. They did, however, express concerns regarding the cost of establishing and maintaining such a database as well as the costs and methods associated with producers supplying the necessary data.

Producers reaffirmed their support for the development of a national animal ID system at the 2005 Pork Forum in Orlando by passing resolutions calling for the development of a mandatory system for all relevant species by 2008 and encouraging swine farmers to register their premises. Pork producers see this proposal as the quickest way to achieve these goals at the least cost and additional burden.