The Welsh Government has announced the decision to develop Wales’ first multi-species traceability system for its red meat industry.
Officials said bringing together the separate systems for cattle, sheep and pigs will fulfil European requirements for the continuation of trade post-Brexit.
Traceability
It will also improve traceability in the event of a disease outbreak and deliver significant opportunity for the Welsh red meat industry to use improved data to benefit farmers and the wider supply chain.
Lesley Griffiths, Welsh cabinet secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs, said: “Having considered the options, I have decided the best way to deliver a workable solution for Wales is to build on the very successful EIDCymru [the new electronic sheep reporting system for Wales].
”In making this decision, I have asked my officials to continue to work closely with the other UK administrations to ensure the respective systems seamlessly exchange data to achieve the highest levels of traceability.”
Move forward
She added: “My officials will also work closely with Defra and the Livestock Information Programme to ensure, as far as possible, the development of our respective systems move forward together, and the transfer of reporting arrangements from the current GB cattle and pig systems is managed effectively.
“The priority is to transfer the cattle system from early 2020. I will be issuing a formal consultation in the new year on updating bovine identification and movement recording to include the requirements for bovine electronic identification. As work progresses, I will update members.”
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