1. Traceability will support industry standards for commerce. The technology used for beef cattle traceability will accommodate the way the industry conducts commerce. The highest volume of cattle is sold in the fall of each year at auction marts, to feedlots and at other industry sales. The technology utilized for traceability will support industry standards at these points of handling for sale of cattle.
2. The traceability system for the beef cattle industry will enhance the competitive position of the industry. Traceability is a critical element of a robust and internationally recognized animal health and food safety system. Progressive implementation of traceability will occur only when there are identifiable benefits and the available technology results in acceptable incremental costs. Costs will be assessed against a measurable value of real benefit such as the mitigation of foreign animal disease impacts, protection against loss of market access, increased market value or enhanced market access. Identification of these benefits and a phased-in approach to implementation will encourage industry to adopt and accept traceability.
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3. Traceability will expand as the appropriate technology to support initiatives is available. The expectation is that a reasonable rate of reading the ID tags respects the speed of normal commerce. For example, tags and readers need to be capable of functioning at an acceptable standard for many groups of cattle moving through an alley or weigh scale rather than being read or scanned individually.
4. Industry standards will drive tolerance ranges for tag readability and retention. All stakeholders recognize that the beef cattle tagging system that underpins traceability will not, under existing technology, achieve a rate of 100 per cent tag retention or 100 per cent readability. Establishing and accepting tolerance ranges and a practical enforcement policy will help industry and government implement a successful beef cattle traceability system.
5. Producer information must remain confidential. A producer’s information collected through the beef cattle traceability system is confidential unless a producer provides consent for disclosure, the collected data is disclosed in aggregate, or disclosure to government is necessary for dealing with animal health or food safety purposes.
