System to Track Hogs in Case of Disease

December 14, 2011 — 

Alberta hogs will be tracked from the farm to the slaughterhouse under a new swine regulation intended to help quickly locate animals and contain any future disease outbreaks.

Alberta becomes the first province in the country to have a regulated traceability system, according to the association that represents the province's hog farmers. The swine regulation, approved by Alberta's cabinet this week, will mean all of the province's 2.5 million pigs must come with travel documents as they're moved from farms to abattoirs.

"If there is an issue of disease or food safety issues, we have instant information about where the animals were transported," explained Darcy Fitzgerald, executive director of Alberta Pork, which represents the province's 375 pork producers.

"They don't always come from a single location."

The industry and Alberta Agriculture have together worked on the system, ahead of federal regulations likely to be implemented in the years ahead, Fitzgerald said. The move is meant to bolster the credibility of an industry hit hard in recent years by a stronger Canadian dollar and trade restrictions tied to the H1N1 flu. Alberta was the first province to report a case of the H1N1 virus in 2009, but Fitzgerald said trade restrictions have now been lifted. Foot and mouth disease, which can cause blisters on animals' feet and inside their mouths, is another major concern for producers, he added.

Rick Frederickson, senior manager of traceability initiatives with Alberta Agriculture, said the move will be a "comfort for international customers."

Already he said each hog has a unique identifier tattoo showing its farm of origin, and a voluntary hog tracing system has been in place for a year. Frederickson said responsibility for the tracing documents will now fall on the shipper, the transporter, and whoever is receiving the hogs.

"This enables us to track the movements of the animal so that we can more effectively prevent, prepare and respond to an animal health or an animal disaster," he said. "The faster that you can deal with that, the sooner you get back into a market that shuts you out."

Agricultural animal tracing systems have improved in Canada in recent years, in large part because of disease outbreaks and resulting trade restrictions. For instance, the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency already traces animals by their farms of origin, and where they're slaughtered and processed.

The agency was established in 2002 as global concerns about mad cow disease were on the rise.

Source: Calgary Herald December 3, 2011 By Kelly Cryderman,