Regulations
world-class Canadian standards
Livestock traceability in Canada is guided by regulatory requirements at the Federal level, though both provincial/territorial governments and livestock industry partners collaborate and contribute to the system via mandatory and voluntary approaches
Canada’s Outstanding Reputation
The Health of Animals Regulations and Food Products Act ensure that dairy foods intended for human consumption can be traced from the consumer’s plate all the way back to the farm of origin. The regulatory measures set the standards of animal identification, tag application, movement, and the obligations of all those involved. It also supports Canada’s outstanding world-class reputation through the following:
- Quality standards applied throughout Canada’s production and processing chain.
- Biosecurity standards, protocols and strategies designed to protect animal resources.
- Control systems protecting the health and well-being of livestock.
- National eradication for serious cattle diseases.
- Assurance programs such as proAction®, a state-of-the art national framework involving milk quality, food safety, livestock traceability, animal care, biosecurity and environmental sustainability.
Definition of Dairy Cattle
Dairy cattle are a sub-group of animals in the bovine species. For DairyTrace, a dairy animal is defined based on how a bovine animal is identified at birth or upon importation into Canada. Regardless of the sex of the calf, or breed of the sire, or intended use/destination of the animal, all animals born from dams used for dairy production are each identified with unique numbers and information regarding animal movement is collected. This all happens under the DairyTrace program, administered by Lactanet Canada and approved by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
“A bovine animal that bears an approved indicator with an identification number that falls within the range provided by CFIA for dairy cattle. This includes (a) bovine animals with an identification number between 124 000 000 000 001 and 124 000 099 999 999 or between 124 000 120 000 000 and 124 000 139 999 999, (b) a subset of bovine animals born in the province of Quebec with an identification number between 124 000 100 000 000 and 124 000 119 999 999 and identified within the Attestra traceability system as being a dairy animal, and (c) bovine animals imported from the United States with an identification number bearing the ISO-3166-1 numeric standard country code of 840 (instead of 124) and are identified by the importer or the Canadian owner as being a dairy animal, or the animal is registered in Canada by one of the national dairy cattle breed associations”
How does traceability work?
Livestock traceability is the ability to follow one animal or a group of animals from one point in the supply chain to another. These systems are based on three pillars:
References
Learn more about the dairy industry, its regulatory requirements and the framework that supports dairy cattle traceability in Canada.
> Canadian Dairy Information Centre
> About CFIA
> Traceability – Government of Canada
> Animal Indicators (tags) – Government of Canada
> Health of Animals – Government of Canada
> Health of Animals Act – Government of Canada
> Health of Animals Regulations – Government of Canada
> Safe Food for Canadians – Government of Canada
> proAction®