Forum to address disease traceability

The United States Animal Health Association (USAHA) and the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA) will co-host a Joint Strategy Forum on Animal Disease Traceability August 30-31 in Denver, Colo. The forum will enable state and tribal health officials animal producers, livestock marketers and handlers, and meat processors to provide input, and voice ideas and concerns on preliminary standards being developed by USDA’s Traceability Regulatory Working Group.
The preliminary standards, expected to be released in mid-August, are expected to be developed into a new set of rules on animal disease traceability by this winter. The forum is open to those interested in developing an effective and efficient system of identifying animals that move across state and tribal lines in the U.S. Sessions will be held covering all species of animals requiring interstate movement that complies with animal health regulations.

EU seeks country of origin labeling

A new proposal before the European Parliament would require labels for meat, poultry, fish, dairy produce, fruit and vegetable to clearly state country of origin, according to a BBC report. The rules would also mandate that labels say where animals were raised.
Since many shoppers buy food online and food packaging has changed, the European Commission says food labels need updating. New rules would include energy, fat, saturated fat and carbohydrates, specifying sugar and salt content on labels, but fall short of requiring "traffic light" color-coding.

VIV Europe news: Confusion over feed quality standards

VIV Europe Hotline, 21 April: Customers in all markets are confused by the number and variety of quality accreditation schemes applied to feeding materials around the world, claims UK-based feed additives supplier Meriden Animal Health.
Speaking on the second day of the VIV Europe exhibition in the Netherlands, marketing manager Pippa Sprinks said that the recent appearance of more schemes had added to the lack of clarity.
Feedback from the sales team tells us that confusion arises around the different accreditations that are available globally,” she says. “It does not mean that any of the standards is devalued, but the whole basis of having quality procedures in place depends on the customers’ understanding of them.
Therefore we are explaining to our customers the quality procedures to which we adhere. Here on our stand at VIV Europe, we have explained that Meriden is a registered QMS:ISO 9001:2008 company and that both our Orego-Stim additive and our new Fusion product have FEMAS (Feed Materials Assurance Scheme) approval covering the production, process, and the full traceability of all the ingredients.
FEMAS is a fundamental requirement within the UFAS (Universal Feed Assurance Scheme), which ensures safe feed production. UFAS embraces all existing UK and EU feed legislation, Codes of Practice and legislation demanding HACCP and traceability throughout the chain.
In addition, the FEMAS scheme has been recognised by the governing bodies to be equivalent to GMP+ from the PDV animal feed product board in the Netherlands.”

Two more states seek to establish livestock boards

West Virginia and Idaho will introduce legislation to create Livestock Care Standards Boards.
In both cases, officials from the state agriculture departments would administer boards of 13 members selected in conformity with recommendations by the State Agriculture and Rural Leaders Association.

Alltech symposium to feature regulatory issues

According to animal health company Alltech, the timing is right for a discussion of regulatory issues at its annual International Animal Health and Nutrition Symposium taking place May 16-19, 2010, at the Lexington Convention Center in Kentucky. “The recent Toyota recall has once again reopened the debate on traceability, accountability and the necessity to have an appropriate crisis management system in place,” the company said in a press release. “The agri-feed industry is no stranger to these topics and, indeed, the Irish pork industry is still bouncing back from one of the most recent crises to affect our industry. Over a year later, the first page of a Google search of the keywords ‘Irish pork’ results in articles solely on the dioxin crisis. Where is the positive story?”
Attendees will have an opportunity to learn directly from the government investigator who led the way in ascertaining what happened during the Irish dioxin crisis. Dr. Patrick Wall, associate professor of public health, University College, Dublin, and chairman of the inter-agency review of the Irish dioxin crisis, will speak about the management of the crisis, what went wrong, and how the industry is recovering.
Additional speakers from the United States, the European Union and the International Feed Ingredient Federations will focus on effective crisis management and the implementation of a crisis management system.

Canada launches new pig tagging effort

In an effort to better respond to disease outbreaks, the Canadian Pork Council has begun to distribute traceability ear tags as part of a national program, say reports.
The tag will allow room for a barn management system number, along with the government’s unique traceability number and an electronic identifier button.
The program is launching in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

China amends import, export laws

China has amended its administrative measures of inspection and quarantine for its imports as well as exports of feed and feed additives, according to the country's General Administration of Quality Supervision Inspection and Quarantine.
The amended measures, which came into force on September 1, are aimed at feed safety as well as traceability.
The rules require the government to tighten supervision over production system assessment, market access, requirement, registration, port monitoring, traceability and product recall for imported products.
Products meant for export will be examined for registration, producer inspection, official monitoring, administration and product traceability.