2003 C.I.P.A. Winners
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Canadian Cattle Identification Agency
Re-Identification of the Canadian Cattle Herd
Overview The Canadian Cattle Identification program involves the individual identification of all cattle and bison that move beyond their "herds of origin" with approved ear tags bearing numbers that are unique to each animal. This information is stored in a national data repository, which CCIA controls access to, but provides information to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in the event of a health or safety concern. Objectives The Canadian cattle industry recognized the need to re-identify the Canadian cattle and bison herd. The level of identification had decreased since 1985 from approximately 90% in our cow herd to 10%. Industry and government jointly recognized the need for an individual identification trace back system to keep pace with other beef producing nations, to protect our domestic and international markets and to increase the consumer confidence in our product. The initiative involved the development of a mandatory, practical and reliable individual traceback system for animal health and food safety for the Canadian cattle and bison herd. Currently, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency carries out approximately 2,000 trace backs per year in its investigation of reportable diseases and other conditions. The CCIA identification system increases the efficiency of a trace back by 90% and helps ensure the rapid containment of potentially devastating reportable diseases and major food safety defects. Summary Description The Canadian Cattle Identification program was implemented on January 1, 2001, with final implementation on July 1, 2002. The national database was developed with QC Data, a well known data management firm, with offices around the world. The concept of the national data repository for beef, dairy and bison was a very simple, cost-effective, secure, web-based solution, with the flexibility to expand and collect additional information as industry requirements change. CCIA controls access to the information in the CCIA database, and provides information to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) at CFIA's request in the event of a health or safety concern. This program requires that all cattle and bison that move beyond their herds of origin must bear an approved CCIA tag. The ear tags bear a nine digit 10 number and bar code (or electronic 10) unique to that individual animal and will stay with that animal through to the point of slaughter. The tags are purchased at approved tag dealer locations across Canada, and a small basic tag is currently available for around $1 (including CCIA's administration fee of $0.20). Upon purchase, producers are required to provide their name, telephone number, address and postal code. The authorized tag dealer is then responsible to report to the CCIA database (via secure on-line software) within 24 hours which tags were purchased by which producer. To date CCIA has allocated approximately 27 million unique 10 numbers to tag manufacturers for the printing of the tags. There have been almost 20 million tags distributed from the manufacturers to dealers and approximately 16.5 million tag numbers reported back to the database as sold to producers. Approximately 3 million tag numbers have been reported as retired from the system by packing plants in Canada and the USA. All packing plants in Canada are regulated to read all tags and maintain that identity to the point of carcass inspection. This gives the Canadian Food Inspection Agency two points from which to trace the animal's movements should a health or safety issue be identified -the point of origin, as well as the point at which the problem is identified. This program is enforced by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, with penalties for non-compliance ranging from $250 for a minor incident to thousands of dollars for a major infraction. Regulations pertaining to the Canadian Cattle Identification Program are contained within the Federal Health of Animals Act and Regulations. CCIA performs routine audits on all of its users of the system and the CCIA system is subject to audit to CFIA. Innovative Use of Technology Prior to the implementation of the Canadian Cattle Identification Program, many producers applied ear tags to cattle for management purposes. Since industry requested that the program be as simple and cost-effective as possible, CCIA tested various ear tags submitted by numerous tag manufacturers through retention and readability studies and trials. Tag manufacturers were required to incorporate a tamper-evident feature, and a unique 10 number and bar code which could be easily scanned by major packing plants. At the packing plant level, the unique 10 is scanned and then transferred to the carcass and maintained to inspection using 10 transfer software. The CCIA is now conducting a trial across Canada to test all types of radio frequency ISO approved technology in an effort to replace the barcode technology. Working with value-added software companies we are demonstrating to producers the benefits of moving to Electronic ear tag technology. CCIA is also implementing Geographical Information System (GIS) technology into the database to increase even further the efficiency of animal health tracebacks. The front-end system of the database was developed to be as user friendly as possible, since many users across Canada (tag dealers, packing plants, etc) access in the s stem have varying degrees of computer skills. Users of the system simply require access to the Internet, and have to contact the CCIA to obtain authorization. Access is also controlled via a client facing firewall running Check-point software. Users are unable to access data from the system, but rather can transmit data to the database, which has "smarts" built into the system, to avoid possible errors. Due to the concern of producers for security of the information stored in the database, the security system "Entrust" was employed. This security was also adopted by Canadian banks, military, and recently the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
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