Full Swine Traceability Takes Big Step Forward
CANADA - The Canadian Pork Council (CPC) welcomes LAST WEEK'S publication in Part II of the Canada Gazette to amend Canada’s Health of Animals Regulations. The amendment brings into law the requirements for swine traceability and marks an important milestone in the establishment of a national swine traceability system.
4 March 2014
3 minute read
"The CPC has invested significant time and resource in planning and implementing improvements to the Canadian swine traceability system and looks forward to having this programme available to producers," stated, CPC’s Chair Jean-Guy Vincent.
CPC’s traceability programme, Pigtrace Canada, will continue to work with the pork industry and with the federal and provincial governments to become compliant with the published regulatory requirements that will come into force on 1 July 2014.
An effective traceability system requires significant investment in technology and time from all industry stakeholders, and a significant investment in administration to ensure successful coordination of the system, effective communications, customer service for industry stakeholders and most importantly, an efficient trace out of animals in the event of an animal disease.
Pigtrace is confident that sufficient time has been allowed to complete and deliver enhanced activities for producers and will have the programme fully implemented in advance of the implementation date.
"For many years, the Canadian hog industry has enjoyed an excellent herd health status," said Oliver Haan, Chair of CPC's Traceability Implementation Committee. "Animal health and foreign animal disease preparedness are key priorities for our industry and these new measures will strengthen our industry’s ability to respond to any future disease outbreaks."
The pork industry has worked hard to prepare for, and has taken preventative measures to slow viruses like PED from affecting Canada’s heard health. PED poses no risk to human health or food safety but this is a devastating production virus that producers must remain vigilant in addition to continue to implement biosecurity practices.
The CPC’s Pigtrace programme will play a vital role in reducing the risk of transmission of emerging diseases or viruses once fully implemented. The traceability system could help reduce the time to respond and investigate from a process that would normally take days to a matter of minutes.
The amended regulations brings national consistency in the pig sector by building on what is already in place in some provinces, such as Alberta’s Swine Traceability System.
