Future Animal Identification 



The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is the new indentification system 

 currently under development. The goal of the NAIS is to establish, in cooperation 

 and collaboration with industry and stakeholders, a system that will meet current 

 and fijture animal-health needs of American agriculture. This system is needed 

 to maintain the economic viability of American animal agriculture. This national 

 animal identification and tracking plan will enhance disease preparedness by rapidly 

 identifying animals exposed to disease, thus allowing quick detection, containment, 

 and elimination of disease threats. Such a system is needed so that international 

 trade will not be adversely affected, the response to FAD outbreaks will be rapid, the 

 response to bioterrorist threats is swift, targeted diseases are controlled or eradicated, 

 and the marketability of animal agricultural products is enhanced. 



A national safeguarding review of APHIS conducted in 2002 by the National 

 Association of State Departments of Agriculture cited improvements in animal 

 identification and traceability as a key recommendation. The importance of a 

 national plan to identif)^ livestock in safeguarding the national herd from the harmful 

 effects of disease is underscored by the recent outbreaks of avian influenza, exotic 

 Newcastle disease, and tuberculosis and by the BSE incident in the northwestern 

 United States. 



USDA began to implement the NAIS in 2004. Identifying individual animals or a 

 group of animals with unique numbers and associating or linking those numbers 

 to a premises (location) throughout each animal's life in an information system 

 are the basis of the NAIS. These basic and limited data will support the objective of 

 achieving timely animal tracebacks and trace forwards when responding to an animal 

 disease concern. 



Traceback refers to the ability to track an animal's location over its lifespan and 

 the ability to determine which animals may have been in contact with the diseased 

 animal or shared a contaminated feed supply. Trace-forward data provide locations 

 of animals moved out of the premises of concern that may have been exposed to 

 the disease. The system will focus on all livestock within the represented industries 

 regardless of their intended use as seedstock, commercial stock, pets, or for other 

 personal uses. 



The goal of the NAIS is to have the capability to identify all animals and premises 

 that had direct contact with an FAD within 48 hours after discovery. The NAIS 

 will provide for a system with the ability to trace back and trace forward animals 

 potentially exposed to a disease of concern. The plan calls for the trace to be 

 completed within 48 hours of discovering the disease, thereby helping to contain an 

 animal disease outbreak. 



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