Ontario pork producers are being encouraged to make sure they have a valid premise identification and a valid tattoo number or herd mark.
Both of those are key elements of the new, mandatory PigTrace Canada program. That program went into effect July 1st.
Stephanie Cottee with Ontario Pork says producers who don’t have those two elements can get them through Ontario Pork. She says producers should also take some time to go through the PigTrace information package they should have already received in the mail.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is handling the compliance verification part of the program.
Spokesman Andy Armstrong says they’ll be taking a soft enforcement approach for the first year. That includes education and warning letters to producers who don’t have their animals properly identified.
Armstrong says that should give the pork industry time to get used to the compliance requirements of the new traceability program.
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