USDA picks two more animal tracking tags

USDA picks two more animal tracking tags    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has approved two new animal identification devices as part of its overall program to better track the health and lifecycle of the nation’s livestock herd.
   The USDA approved a visual tag with radio frequency identification from Leader Products and the first injectable transponder from Digital Angel.
   The devices carry an official animal identification number, which is used to identify individual animals as part of the USDA’s National Animal Identification System (NAIS). The program was launched shortly after the USDA confirmed a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or “mad cow” disease, in a Canadian-born cow in Washington state in December 2003.
   “With efforts to register premises under the NAIS continuing to build momentum, we are looking ahead to the next phases of the program,” said Bruce Knight, USDA’s undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs, in a statement. “The approval of additional identification devices provides producers with important options for participating in the voluntary NAIS and increasing animal disease traceability in the United States.”
   Leader Products is based in Australia and also provides tags for the Australian animal identification program.
   Injectable transponders have been used successfully for many years for proof of ownership, identification and management purposes in a number of animals. Companies, such as Digital Angel of St. Paul. Minn., are now developing injectable transponders to meet NAIS specifications.
   With the two new approvals, there are now eight approved NAIS-compliant identification devices from five manufacturers. Other approved manufacturers are Allflex USA, Global Animal Management/Gissler Technologies and Y-Tex Corp.
   The USDA emphasized it is “technology neutral,” meaning it does not support one type or brand of device over another. The department said the intent is to enable producers to have a wide variety of choices when it comes to choosing what will work best for their individual operation.
   NAIS, which is voluntary at the federal level, comprises three parts: premises registration, animal identification and tracing. So far, more than 416,178 premises across the country have been registered as part of the program, and producers with registered premises have obtained more than 1.5 million animal identification devices.