Tackling Traceability

Can-Trace, Canada’s roadmap to traceability, aggressively supported by Association Holstein Canada is actively participating in various national and provincial groups to develop and implement strategies related to traceability— animal ID, premise ID, and animal movement.

One initiative now receiving strong support is Can-Trace. It is a tracking and tracing initiative convened last summer by major Canadian trade associations, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and the Electronic Commerce Council of Canada.

Can-Trace, managed by a steering committee, offers a forum for individuals from various groups to come together and participate in the development of a national traceability initiative. Those involved represent primary producers, intermediaries, processors, packers, manufacturers, distributors, brokers, retailers, operators, importers, and consumers.

Can-Trace’s objective is to identify and define minimum requirements for a whole-chain Canadian food industry traceability (tracking forward or one up and tracing backward or one down) program. This industry-led initiative fosters open dialogue within the entire supply chain and ensures that the necessary framework for Canadian traceability is functional and practical.

This roadmap can then be used by industry participants to develop common standards and enablers to permit the implementation of seamless traceability programs within their own commodity groups and sections of the supply chain. These enablers include automation, flexibility, adaptability, and efficiency for a level playing field. The system must work for stakeholders with different levels of sophistication and size. As well, harmonization between Canadian and US traceability systems is sought.

Common elements for a national traceability system (farm to processor) include a 1) unique identifier for livestock (individual or lot), product or item, 2) unique premise ID (farm, production or assembly points and carriers), 3) on-farm records (daily events, treatments, inbound animals (purchases and newborns) outbound animals (sales, deaths, disposals), and 4) data capture systems linked to a secure national database structure.

It is vital that farm animals and products are traceable backward and trackable forward from the farm level, through intermediary steps, to the next level of the agri-food chain. All intermediary steps, such as trucking, assembly points, sales barns, and feedlots are included in the roadmap. It is acknowledged that substantial animal location and movement information already resides on databases within the service sector.

Obviously, one area of concern remains security and confidentiality of information. An information and data management system—whether one national or linked database— must ensure that availability and access are balanced with privacy, security and service requirements.

The dairy industry is close to having a universal traceability system from farm to processor—the most advanced of the livestock groups. CanWest DHI, PATLQ and ADLIC are positioned to assist by offering a third party verifiable barn capacity service—newborn activation, additions to the herd, and animals exiting the facilities (sales and disposals).

With Holstein Canada an active participant in provincial, territorial and national strategies, the dairy industry is taking the remaining steps to provide a verifi able traceability system to meet food safety demands of the marketplace, and protect the interests of producers in future.