March 9, 2007

US producers seek support for ID system
 

In an effort to to implement a national swine identification system, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) will ask the marketplace, including meat packers, and swine breed registries to demand ID numbers from pork producers.

Delegates at NPPC's annual business meeting in Anaheim, California approved a resolution calling on packers during registration process to require ID numbers on premises as a condition of sale and on breed registries. Delegates also passed a resolution stating that producers continue to support a mandatory national ID system.

NPPC and the National Pork Board in 2005 formed a task force, made up of industry stakeholders, to implement a national swine ID system based on the one the pork industry has had since 1988. That system was used to successfully eradicate pseudorabies.

Supported by previously approved delegate resolutions, the task force has called for mandatory premises registration, which includes owner and location data, by December 31, 2007, and mandatory animal IDs for all relevant species by December 31, 2008.

According to an analysis conducted by the National Pork Board, more than 50 percent of pork producers nationwide already have registered their premises.

NPPC president and Illinois pork producer Jil Appell said making premises registration a part of the marketing and breed registry process will help ensure in meeting the pork industry's goal of having the animal-health tool functional by the end of 2008.