March 2006     

NAIS

National Animal Identification System

Overview
from http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais

The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is a national program intended to identify animals, and track them as they come into contact with, or commingle with, animals other than herdmates from their premises of origin.

The system is being developed for all animals that will benefit from rapid tracebacks in the event of a disease concern. Currently, working groups comprised of industry and government representatives are developing plans for cattle, swine, sheep, goats, horses, poultry, bison, deer, elk, llamas, and alpacas.

Already, many of these species can be identified through some sort of identification system, but these systems are not consistent across the country. Tracing an animal's movements can, therefore, be a time consuming endeavor during a disease investigation, especially if the animal has moved across state lines.

In April 2004, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the framework for implementing the NAIS - an animal identification and tracking system that will be used in all states, and that will operate under national standards. When fully operational, the system will be capable of tracing a sick animal, or group of animals, back to the herd or premises that is the most likely source of infection. It will also be able to trace potentially exposed animals that were moved out from that herd or premises. The sooner animal health officials can identify infected and exposed animals and premises, the sooner they can contain the disease and stop its spread.

The NAIS will enhance U.S. efforts to respond to intentionally, or unintentionally, introduced animal disease outbreaks more quickly and effectively. USDA's long-term goal is to establish a system that can identify all premises and animals that have had direct contact with a foreign animal disease or a domestic disease of concern within 48 hours of discovery.

The first step in implementing the NAIS is identifying and registering premises that house animals. Such premises would include locations where livestock and poultry are managed, marketed, or exhibited. Knowing where animals are located is the key to efficient, accurate, and cost-effective epidemiologic investigations and disease-control efforts.

USDA anticipates that all States will have the capability to register premises according to the national standards by 2005. Officials with USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), are currently training state officials how to use a standardized premises registration system. USDA is also evaluating alternative registration systems that states, or others, have developed and want to use, to ensure these systems meet the national standards. In addition, USDA is working with states and industry to educate the public about the NAIS.

As premises are registered, another component of the NAIS's animal identification will be integrated into the system. Unique animal identification numbers (AINs) will be issued to individually identified premises. In the case of animals that move in groups through the production chain, such as swine and poultry, the group will be identified through a group/lot identification number (Group/Lot IDs).

USDA is developing the standards for collecting and reporting information, but industry will determine which type of identification method works best for each species. These methods could include radio frequency identification tags, retinal scans, DNA, or others. As long as the necessary data are sent to USDA's information repositories in a standardized form, it will be accepted.

USDA will build upon existing identification systems, and allow for a transition period from systems currently defined in the Code of Federal Regulations, before requiring AINs or Group/Lot IDs. Working with states and industry, USDA will also evaluate various animal identification technologies to determine how the collection of animal movement records can best be automated, and we will encourage as much participation as possible.

As premises are registered, and animals, or groups of animals are identified, based on the standard protocols, USDA will begin collecting information about animal movements from one premises to another. With an efficient, effective animal tracking system in place, USDA will be able to perform rapid tracebacks in case of an animal disease outbreak. As envisioned, only Federal, State, and Tribal animal health authorities would have direct access to the national premises and animal identification information repositories. They need this information to accomplish their job of safeguarding animal health.

USDA is investigating various options to protect the confidentiality of the information. It is important to note that the national repositories will include information only for animal and disease tracking purposes. Proprietary production data will remain in private databases.

If USDA decides to make all or parts of the NAIS mandatory, APHIS will follow the normal rulemaking process. The public will have the opportunity to comment upon any proposed regulations.

The Evolution of the NAIS in the United States
A Tradition of Animal Identification

Animal identification has been around in some form or fashion for centuries. Cattle branding, for example, is one of the earliest known forms of livestock identification.

Back in the 1940s, the predecessor agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), initiated an extensive program to identify cattle vaccinated for brucellosis. The official brucellosis vaccination tag and ear tattoo provided the United States with a highly successful animal identification program for cattle for decades. Since brucellosis is close to being eradicated in the United States, however, that system of tagging and identification is being phased out rapidly.

Animal identification did not start or stop with brucellosis. Cattle branding was in practice long before the brucellosis program began. Right now, several other animal health programs include an animal identification component, and certain classes of livestock must be officially identified before entering interstate commerce. In addition, some animals must be identified before they can compete in shows, or race on a track. So, there are multiple identification systems in place, that exist for different purposes, but there is no nationwide animal identification system for all animals of any given species.

Animal identification is worthwhile to producers and animal owners for various reasons, including performance recording and marketing opportunities. However, APHIS is focused on animal identification for one reason alone: to establish the animal information foundation the agency needs to support its animal disease control, eradication, monitoring, and surveillance programs.

Individuals associated with animal industries recognize that finding potentially sick or exposed animals early in a disease outbreak is essential to containing the disease quickly. The National Animal Identification System will allow rapid tracing of animals during an outbreak situation, helping to limit the scope and expense of the outbreak, and allowing APHIS to minimize the impact on domestic and foreign markets. The NAIS will also be critical as APHIS works to complete disease eradication programs in which the Federal government, States, and industry have invested many years and millions of dollars.

The NAIS is being developed for animal industries that will benefit from having a system in place that facilitates rapid tracing, in the event of a disease concern. Currently, working groups are developing plans for alpacas and llamas, bison, cattle (beef and dairy), deer and elk, horses, goats, poultry, sheep, and swine.

A Cooperative Effort between Industry and Government

The plan for implementing the NAIS was already well underway when a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy was detected in the United States in December 2003. With that in mind, USDA announced shortly after the finding that it would expedite the implementation of a verifiable national animal identification system. The NAIS has evolved over the course of several years with input from many sources. It continues to be refined and improved.

In 2002, APHIS officials worked with various organizations, including the National Institute for Animal Agriculture, and the U.S. Animal Health Association, to help draft an animal identification plan. By 2003, this preliminary work plan was expanded upon by various State, Federal, and industry groups, resulting in the initial draft of the U.S. Animal Identification Plan (USAIP). Although early versions of the USAIP focused on food animals only, other non-traditional livestock species - such as alpacas, llamas, and horses - were incorporated into the plan.

The USAIP plan was an important step in moving toward the implementation of the NAIS. In particular, USDA is drawing from some of the data standards first established in the USAIP. However, the USAIP should not be viewed as an exact blueprint for the NAIS. USDA will continue to seek input from industry, and other interested parties, throughout the design and implementation of the NAIS. USDA will also post updates to its web site as the system moves forward http://www.usda.gov/nais.

The NAIS is continually evolving, as those responsible for its implementation receive input from various sources. For example, policymakers will incorporate the results of research being carried out through cooperative agreements between USDA, states and Tribes, and they will also review information submitted as part of an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, or through USDA listening sessions. In addition, they will work to integrate recommendations they receive from various groups and organizations.

Premises Identification

The overall system must allow for the identification of each premises - or location - where animals are born, managed, marketed, or exhibited. It must also allow for the recording of animal identification and animal movement data. The NAIS must associate, or link animal identification data to each premises where the animal or group was located, and the specific dates the animal or animals were at the location.

The first step in implementing the NAIS is registering each premises in the United States, and assigning that location its own unique identification number. As each state may have its own requirements, it is important that producers register their premises in the state where that premises is located. To ensure animal health officials at the national level have the necessary contact information in case of a disease concern, states will forward certain information to a national premises information repository maintained by USDA. National animal health officials will be able to access this very basic information quickly during a disease outbreak, helping them coordinate their response with the states that are affected.

The National Premises System

The National Premises System includes the premises number allocator, premises registration systems, and a national premises information repository. These are all necessary components of the overall NAIS.

The premises number allocator is maintained at the national level, and it interfaces with premises registration systems maintained at the state level. Through the allocator, USDA can assign a unique premises identification number to each location where animals may commingle (e.g., a ranch, farm, grazing area, livestock market, slaughter establishment, or veterinary clinic). A single premises number will be used for each location, regardless of the number of species associated with it. In other words, a producer will not have a different premises identification number for beef, dairy, swine, etc., if all of these animals are located at the same operation.

A premises registration system is a database program. It allows necessary information about the premises to be collected, and unique identification numbers to be assigned. In the event of an animal health investigation, the information collected through the premises registration system would allow animal health officials to get in touch with the appropriate contact person quickly.

States and Tribes are responsible for handling premises registration. Through premises registration systems, they collect information such as the premises street address, name, and telephone number of the person authorities should contact during a disease traceback involving the premises, and the type of operation (market, farm, etc.). In addition, the date that information about the premises was initiated, and the date it was "deactivated" are kept, so the appropriate people (with knowledge of animals on the premises during the time in question) can be located. Data will be maintained for 20 years. The information collected through these systems will be vital to stopping future disease outbreaks and completing existing eradication programs.

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), is providing a standardized premises registration system that states and Tribes may elect to use. It is a web-based system maintained at an APHIS facility in Fort Collins, CO. Some states and Tribes may opt instead to use a system that they developed, or that a third party developed. State and Tribal authorities will determine which premises registration systems will be used in their areas. As long as a system has been evaluated by USDA and found to be compliant with the national data standards and with other technical requirements (e.g., communication integrity and system security), it may be used.

Certain pieces of data entered into the premises registration system will be forwarded electronically to a National Premises Information Repository. The information repository centralizes agreed-upon data, and is necessary to support the overall NAIS.

The following table shows the 12 pieces of information that will be stored in the National Premises System:

National Premises Information Repository - Data Elements

Premises ID Number

Name of Entity

Owner or Appropriate Contact Person*

Street Address

City

State

Zip/Postal Code

Contact Phone Number

Operation Type (e.g., production unit, exhibition, abattoir, etc.)

Date Activiated

Date Retired (e.g., date operation is sold, date operation is no longer maintaining livestock)

Reason Retired

*The contact person should be the person the animal health official is to communicate with, when performing a traceback (as determined by the entity).

As USDA and its partners move forward with the NAIS, they will also be working to obtain information about specific animals or groups of animals that have been assigned official identification numbers. Only information necessary for animal health officials to be able to track suspect animals and identify any other animals that may have been exposed to the disease, will be maintained.

Animal Identification

To track animals as they move from premises to premises, animal health officials must have a standard way to identify them. Animals will be identified either individually with a unique Animal Identification Number (AIN) or, if they are managed and moved through the production chain as a group, with a Group/Lot Identification Number (GIN).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has amended the regulations to recognize for official use the 15-character AIN and 13-character GIN. Industry groups have the option of using the same animal identification numbers for programs they sponsor, such as for performance recording or breed registration.

Currently, many producers use separate identification numbers or methods for official animal health programs, interstate commerce purposes, and industry-sponsored programs. One cow, for example, could have as many as five different identification numbers, each associated with a different program (e.g., disease eradication program, herd improvement program, etc.)

Various industry organizations have recommended, and USDA supports, moving towards a standardized numbering system that would allow one number to be used for all of these purposes. An animal would be identified with the same official number under multiple programs, instead of being identified with a different number under each program. The data associated with each program could still be maintained separately, however.

The new individual animal numbering system will allow producers to transition into the use of a "one number-one animal" system if they wish to do so. This numbering system will also be a key element in the NAIS. Animal health officials will be able to trace animals more effectively during a disease response if all animals are identified in a uniform manner.

Only information necessary for animal health officials to be able to track suspect animals and identify any other animals that may have been exposed to a disease will be maintained in NAIS data repositories. Officials will not have access to proprietary production data collected by industry organizations.

Animal Tracking

Various species working groups have suggested that certain basic events will trigger the need for reporting animal movements (e.g., change of ownership, interstate movement, multiple owners commingling their animals, etc.). Each location will have a Premises Identification Number (PIN), and the responsible party will report the AIN or GIN of all animals that arrive at that premises and the date of their arrival.

There are, essentially, four pieces of information required to document an animal movement event. The table below shows the four pieces of information that will be stored in a national animal records repository:

National Animal Records Repository - Data Elements

Animal Identification Number, AIN, or Group/Lot Identification Number, GIN

Premises Identification Number, PIN, of the location where the event takes place

Date of the event

Event type (movement in, movement out, sighting of an animal at a location, termination of the animal, etc)

As it comes online, the NAIS will be a fundamental tool for carrying out animal health monitoring and surveillance programs. State and federal animal health officials will be able to access a centralized NAIS database continually, so that they may more quickly ascertain a herd's health status and issue intra-and interstate animal movement certificates. However, only information necessary for animal health officials to be able to track suspect animals and identify any other animals that may have been exposed to the disease will be maintained.

Eventually, the NAIS will allow animal health officials to identify all animals and premises that have had contact with a foreign or domestic animal disease of concern within 48 hours after discovery. As an information system that provides for rapid tracing of infected and exposed animals during an outbreak situation, the NAIS will help limit the scope of such outbreaks, and ensure that they are contained and eradicated, as quickly as possible.