$33 Million For Livestock Tracking Falls Short
03 February, 2004
category: RFID
The USDA announced $33 million allocated specifically for the development of a livestock tracking system.
This falls well short of the estimated $600 million the industry believes the system will cost to develop and deploy. While the private sector will contribute to the project, industry leaders voiced their dissapointment with the shortfall. The budget has also allocated:
- “$17 million for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to collect 40,000 samples and tests for BSE at rendering plants and on farms;”
- “$5 million for the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to conduct advanced research and development of BSE testing technologies;”
- “$4 million for the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to conduct monitoring and surveillance of compliance with the regulations for specified risk materials and advance meat recovery;”
- “$1 million for the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) to dispatch rapid response teams to markets experiencing BSE related complaints regarding contracts or lack of prompt payment.”