The Alberta government has signed a traceability agreement with provincial and national beef groups.
Tracing food from farm to the consumer will help guarantee quality and safety, agriculture minister Jack Hayden told an Oct. 20 news conference.
It is needed if Canada hopes to expand its markets, especially into Asia where traceback is requested, he added.
“We are pretty high end and there are only certain places in the world that are interested in that, but they are big markets like China, Japan and India,” he said.
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The Guiding Principles for Beef Cattle Traceability outline five goals as the system moves toward a national beef traceability system.
They are a carbon copy of an earlier proposal made by the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.
“Traceability is an initiative the industry began 10 years ago with mandatory animal ID,” said CCA president Travis Toews in an interview.
He said the industry recognizes the benefits for animal health and understands some customers are asking for it.
However, it must be affordable for producers and not demand more than current technology can provide, he added.
The document is expected to be circulated to other provincial beef organizations in hopes other provinces sign on.
Pilot projects are underway across Canada to test tags and reading systems and how they work while moving high volumes of cattle through auctions, pastures and other large venues.
Toews said those tests have made it clear that more work is needed to improve the technology.
Alberta has been studying the technology in auction markets on more than 250,000 cattle. It is anticipated a second round will be initiated this fall and end in March.
Readability in an auction market was in the high 80 percent range.
“Before we implement anything, we have to make sure we properly test the equipment to make sure it works under our conditions,” said Brent MacEwan of Alberta Agriculture’s traceability division.
The five principles of the agreement are:
• Traceability will support industry standards for commerce. The technology must meet industry standards and keep up with the speed of business.
• The traceability system for the beef cattle industry will enhance the competitive position of the industry. Progressive implementation of traceability will occur only when there are identifiable benefits and the available technology results in acceptable incremental costs.
• Traceability will expand as the appropriate technology to support initiatives becomes available.
• Industry standards will drive tolerance ranges for tag readability and retention.
• Producer information must remain confidential.
