Traceability and FMD Take Center Stage at 2007 ID/INFO EXPO

Aug 27, 2007 9:32 AM

The National Institute of Animal Agriculture’s (NIAA’s) ID/Info Expo 2007 is where traceability needs intersect for the animal agriculture industry. That includes animal health, country-of-origin labeling (often referred to as COL or COOL), food safety and consumer demand — all rolled into one two-day session Aug. 28-30 at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, Mo.

“ID/Info Expo was an effort that the National Institute of Animal Agriculture put in place to educate our livestock industry about animal identification and how this applies to our industry in the United States,” said Robert Fourdraine, co-chair of the event and chief operating officer (COO) of the Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium.

Fourdraine says this year NIAA has expanded the program for the Expo to be more about traceability. “So, it’s not focused just on disease programs and the need for animal identification,” he says. “We’re going to be talking about country-of-origin labeling, value-added programs and branding of products all relative to having traceability of animals and animal products.”

Bruce Knight, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, who is responsible for various aspects of animal ID and traceability, will deliver a summary keynote address during the last session of the event on Thursday morning.

In addition, the program will open on Tuesday with the timely topic of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and the ability of the United States to cope with an outbreak of that disease.The program starts at 1 p.m. Aug. 28 and concludes at 12:30 p.m. Aug. 30. For program details, go to animalagriculture.org; click on ID/Info Expo, and then on “Schedule of Events.”

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