Abattoirs, as control points, are the ideal place to establish traceability for the South African livestock industry.
By Nico van Burick, Senior Journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad
The more than 160 abattoirs in South Africa are the ideal starting point for the development and implementation of a traceability system, says Dr Danie Odendaal, director of the Veterinary Network.
“It is the ideal starting point because it represents a dead-end road,” he said. “Live animals come from different farms to the abattoir and leave the abattoir as carcasses through a chain of processors to the end consumer.
“Therefore, a large number of animals arrive at the various regulated abattoirs in South Africa on a daily, monthly and yearly basis with a transport and health certificate.”
To illustrate the scale of animal handling by abattoirs, he says one facility handles about 10 truckloads a day, or about 2 500 a year. If you include 100 facilities and an average load size of 10 animals, it translates to 2.5 million animals per year.
Currently, the health certificate is not digital, meaning it is submitted and filed without the information being made available or used. Odendaal says by transitioning the health certificate and farm of origin to an electronic system, the simplest form of traceability can be developed and implemented.
‘A laboratory’
A major advantage is that the abattoir also serves as a “laboratory” for identifying diseases which can be traced directly back to thousands of farms without the need for site visits.
The purposes of traceability range from animal health and livestock theft control to providing assurance to consumers (domestic or international) about the safety and wholesomeness of the product’s origin.
Regarding animal health, the concept is specific: if animals are moved from one property to another and a contagious disease occurs, the disease must be traceable to its origin for control purposes and to prevent further spread.
In practice, there is no workable traceability system for livestock in South Africa, or such a system is not yet widely used. “To develop and implement a traceability system in South Africa, it must be extremely practical and straightforward but deliver meaningful benefits,” says Odendaal.
“Traceability from the abattoir to the farm of origin is very possible with very few limitations because the animals don’t even need to be individually numbered. Each load of animals (owned by a specific owner) from a specific origin is seen and handled as a group through the pre-mortem and post-mortem processes and the records already collected on the National Animal Disease Information System (Nadis).”
Traceability can be grounded in place of origin according to GPS coordinates, animal species and age group, pre-mortem observation by trained personnel, pre-mortem sampling if deemed necessary, and post-mortem inspection and sampling of the carcass if necessary.
A wider animal health picture
Odendaal believes disease problems identified should also form part of the larger animal health picture by linking them with the disease reporting system that veterinarians use at district or veterinary practice level.
He says there are specific places in the livestock market, such as auctions, feed lots, shows and abattoirs, where many animals come together from different farms. This provides the opportunity to focus on biosecurity, especially the development and implementation of a practical traceability system.
If the system is developed and implemented at abattoirs, for example, to trace 250 000 truckloads of animals to their farms of origin, the first level of traceability is ready. The system can then be expanded to more complex control points such as auction yards.
Odendaal is working with the Food Safety Agency – the government’s authorised meat inspection service, including at abattoirs – on a proposal for the National Animal Health Forum.
