Pressure rising for US animal identification programme

Pressure is growing again in the US for Congress to decide whether the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) will be made mandatory or will the funding for the current voluntary system stop.

Last week, Rosa DeLauro from the House of Representatives said the NAIS programme, which applies to the beef cattle and pig industries, needed changes, and soon.

DeLauro noted that the voluntary programme has not worked despite being in place for five years and with tens of millions of dollars poured into it.

DeLauro, a supporter of a mandatory programme, said House Agriculture Committee chairman Collin Peterson does not favour spending more on the programme unless the government supports a mandatory system.

US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he wants to sit down with those who oppose the mandatory system in the near term to work through whatever problems they may be facing.

Vilsack said he wants to structure a programme that addressed those concerns, or the mandatory system could fail because people would be spending much time figuring how to get around it, which was what had happened in the past five years to the voluntary system.