New Animal Disease Traceability Framework to Replace NAIS

Last week, USDA announced a new, flexible framework for animal disease traceability in the United States. The framework will provide the basic tenets of an improved animal disease traceability capability and replace the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), which was established in 2003 after the discovery of Mad Cow disease in the United States.

During 15 listening sessions conducted with stakeholders across the country, USDA received a wide variety of comments. Some people were in favor of NAIS, but the vast majority of participants were highly critical of the program. Some of the concerns and criticisms raised included confidentiality, liability, cost, privacy and religion. There were also concerns about NAIS being the wrong priority for USDA, that the system benefits only large-scale producers, and that NAIS is unnecessary because existing animal identification systems are sufficient.

To create the framework for the new approach, USDA will partner with states and tribal nations. The agency also plans to re-establish a Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Animal Health with representatives from states, tribal nations, industry groups, local farms, organic farmers, and underserved communities to assist in evaluating commodity-based animal disease traceability approaches, along with state-by-state and tribe-by-tribe animal disease traceability efforts. The committee will also advise USDA on issues such as confidentiality and liability. 

The intent of the new approach is to:

• Achieve basic, effective animal disease traceability and response to animal disease outbreaks without overly burdening producers;
• ONLY apply to animals moving in interstate commerce;
• Be owned, led, and administered by the States and Tribal Nations with Federal support focused entirely on animal disease traceability;
• Allow for maximum flexibility for states, tribal nations and producers to work together to find identification solutions that meet their local needs;
• Encourage the use of lower-cost technology;
• Ensure that animal disease traceability data is owned and maintained at the discretion of the states and tribal nations;
• Be less federally intrusive and support producers’ request to operate on principles of personal accountability; and
• Help overcome some of the mistrust caused by NAIS.

More information and a fact sheet are available at USDA.