The Canadian Pork Council’s Traceability Committee Chair says the entire Canadian pork value chain will benefit from the introduction of swine traceability.
Under proposed changes to Canada’s Health of Animals Regulations to accommodate traceability custodians of pigs will be required to identify all farmed pigs and farmed wild boars and to record and report all movements of pigs from birth or import, to slaughter or export.
Curtiss Littlejohn, the Chair of the Canadian Pork Council’s Traceability Committee, says swine traceability will benefit the entire Canadian pork value chain.
Producers will benefit from being able to potentially manage their businesses better.
They’ll have the peace of mind knowing that if we do get into a foreign animal disease situation that our government will have the tools to be able to respond and trace back the outbreak and our processors who export to foreign markets will be able to show that Canada is the only country in the world that has a swine traceability system in place and operating.
That could help in the event of a foreign animal disease that closes borders.
That could help open those borders with our trading partners quicker and allow them to come back into the market place for Canadian pork at a much faster rate.
Market access is all about what is it that consumers want?
Once you get past the government regulations as to whether your pork meets the requirements of their countries to allow imports then it becomes the importers preference.
With Canada being the only country in the world that has a legislated and regulated traceability system in place, people can purchase Canadian pork and know that in the event of a disease we will be able to come back into the market quicker than most other countries in the world and that is a benefit when you’re looking at long term stability and long term imports.
Public comments on the proposed changes are being accepted until August 13th.
For information on submitting a comment visit PigTrace.Ca.
