The results from the recent Sheepcatcher II report into the performance of Australia’s traceability systems for sheep and goats have been welcomed by SAFEMEAT Chair Ross Keane, following a meeting of the SAFEMEAT Partners.
Between 2 June and 5 July 2016, a national exercise was conducted by Animal Health Australia (AHA) to audit the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) for Sheep and Goats (NLIS-S&G) against the National Livestock Traceability Performance Standards (NLTPS).
This exercise, known as “Sheepcatcher II”, is the second evaluation that has been conducted on the tracing system for sheep and goats to identify areas where the process of traceability could be improved. A previous evaluation was conducted in 2007.
Dr Kathleen Giles, CEO Sheepmeat Council of Australia, commented that “SheepCatcher II achieved its objective of evaluating the NLIS-S&G to identify areas where the system could be improved. The exercise demonstrated improvement against the NLTPS since the first SheepCatcher exercise, but in some areas the NLTPS are still not being met.
With the recommendations now reviewed by SAFEMEAT, both industry and government are now focused on implementing a strong response to the major areas where improvements are required”.
The report made 18 recommendations for the consideration of industry and government to ensure our traceability systems remain the best in the world and to further improve the traceability of sheep and goats.
The meeting of SAFEMEAT last Friday was the first opportunity for the Partners to come together and consider the recommendations from the exercise.
Following this meeting, SAFEMEAT will now work on developing an implementation and resourcing plan for each of the key actions industry and jurisdictions will initiate to address the recommendations from the report.
SAFEMEAT will also continue to consult with industry and government to ensure that the recommendations are fully responded to.