July 19, 2012

Canada to employ pork traceability system

Canada may be the first nation to employ a swine traceability system after an amendment on the country's Health of Animals Regulations, representing an important step in the establishment of the country's national traceability system, said the Canadian Pork Council (CPC).

According to the CPC, traceability systems are becoming more popular and will play an important part in tracking livestock movements, which can help control disease outbreaks and food safety issues.

The proposed amendment has been made public and is the first part of two steps, which will allow people to have a say on the regulation. Part two will see the amendment published in the Canada Gazette, making it law.

CPC president, Jean-Guy Vincent, said that Canada was doing something that few countries were carrying out. Vincent explained that a national swine traceability system will be "highly valued by local and international markets". He added that, by being one of the first countries to implement a national traceability system, the Canadian pork industry has an opportunity to improve its market competitiveness.

"When combined with other CPC programmes such as Animal Care, Canadian Quality Assurance and the Canadian Swine Health Board biosecurity programme, a federally recognised and enforceable traceability programme will continue to differentiate our product as a leader in the world pork market," Vincent he said.

Chairman of the CPC's Traceability Committee, Curtiss Littlejohn, highlighted the journey that Canada's swine traceability system has taken and explained there had been many years of "extensive consultations" with industry stakeholders. Littlejohn said: "It's important in today's market that the pork industry meets the growing global demand for food product attributes and the need to verify those consumer requirements with complete value chain traceability."