USDA proposes standardizing animal ID numbers; R-CALF upset

摘要

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service last week proposed a rule standardizing its official numbering systems and animal ID eartags, following two earlier memos on the subject (see FCN Jan. 5, Page 1). The proposal was published in the Jan. 13 Federal Register with a comment period ending March 16. Bill Bullard, CEO ofR-CALF USA, the Montanabased cattlemen's group strongly opposed to USDA's National Animal Identification System (NAIS), told Food Chemical News last week that APHIS appears to be "rushing frantically to get as much accomplished" toward implementing the NAIS before the Bush administration leaves office, adding, "We're hopeful that the new administration will find the NAIS overly burdensome and unnecessary and will scrap it. We'll have to wait and see."