One month after the USDA announced that a cow slaughtered in the U.S. tested positive for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, the United States government has been able to find only 23 of the 81 cows from Alberta, Canada that entered the country in the same herd. For several days, the Department was unable to identify the source of the infected cow. The inability to find these animals quickly and efficiently reveals a glaring weakness in the current system and the need to protect both public and animal health by establishing a mandatory, nationwide, uniform animal identification and traceback system.
If such a system had been in place a month ago, both the public and meat producers and processors could have been spared days of distress and uncertainty. Twenty-four of our major trading partners, including Japan, would not have closed their ports to U.S. meat. Hundreds of millions of dollars of lost sales would have been avoided.
The General Accounting Office supports effective animal identification and tracking as a way to control animal disease. In a 2002 report on foot and mouth disease, GAO reported “the effectiveness of a US response to FMD will require an animal identification and tracking system that will allow responders to quickly identify, control and slaughter infected and exposed animals.” (GAO-02-808, July 2002) Animals should be tagged at birth and records should be kept to trace those animals from birth to slaughter.
Animal ID-A Vital Tool in Reducing Food-borne Illness
In addition to preventing the spread of animal disease, an identification system capable of tracking all animals from the slaughterhouse back to the farm of origin can help reduce illness and death from food poisoning. Each year 76 million Americans contract food-borne diseases from pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes. Five thousand of them die. USDA’s Economic Research Service pegs the cost at over $3.5 billion annually.
Last year a National Academy of Sciences committee reported that the level of contamination on and in animals coming to slaughter is tied to contamination levels in meat. The committee urged government to monitor contamination of incoming animals and take steps to mitigate the problem. The committee also noted that other countries have achieved dramatic declines in some pathogens by using microbial monitoring to drive farm-based control efforts. (National Research Council, 2003, Scientific Criteria to Ensure Safe Food, pp172-173.)
A 2001 OIE report on animal identification states:
” the lack of a reliable animal identification system inhibits the ability of researchers to develop the data necessary to track food-borne pathogens and to identify methodologies to exclude harmful food-borne pathogens and thereby protect consumers.” (OIE, 2001, 20(2), pp598-602)
Other countries have effective identification and tracking systems. Processors and retailers support such a system. The American Meat Institute said that it “has policy in place supporting mandatory animal traceability.” The National Milk Producers Federation has “long supported a mandatory, comprehensive animal ID program for livestock of all ages.” (Stephen Clapp , Food Traceability Report, Jan. 2003) The Food Marketing Institute has also supported mandatory animal identification.
USDA Has Not Committed to An Effective Program
Secretary Veneman announced on Dec 30, 2003 that USDA would soon institute a “verifiable” animal identification system and told the House Agriculture Committee on January 21 that she supported a mandatory system. However, the Department has not been specific about the structure, enforcement or even the timing of such a program.
USDA officials say they have a plan in development and refer to the United States Animal Identification Plan. USAIP is a private effort by a consortium of animal production organizations who have received technical assistance from APHIS staff.
The USAIP is not designed or intended to protect public health. Its goal is “to achieve a traceback system that can identify all animals and premises exposed to an animal with a Foreign Animal Disease (FAD) within 48 hours after discovery.” [emphasis added] The program doesn’t cover domestic animal disease or human pathogens. It isn’t mandatory or uniform. Requirements could vary by state. There are no enforcement provisions.
Congress should act immediately to establish a mandatory, uniform animal identification and tracking system capable of tracing all animals from the slaughterhouse back to the farm of origin.
Consumer Federation of America is a nonprofit association of 300 consumer groups, representing more than 50 million Americans, that was established in 1968 to advance the consumer interest through research, education and advocacy.