One of the greatest marketing strengths of Australian beef is the reputation it possesses as “Clean, Green & Safe”. With over 130 market destinations internationally, consumers choose Australian beef for those three words.
Our ability to trade and ultimately to have a viable industry is underpinned by those words.
Clean, green & safe. The reputation of Australian beef overseas
This is a restaurant in Shanghai promoting Australian beef - Natural & Safe
As producers there is a huge requirement to ensure practices on farm are consistent with these themes. Over the past few years there has been a concerted effort not only to help shape the practices on farm that producers should embrace, there has also been a framework developed to allow producers to prove this if challenged.
The Livestock Production Assurance (LPA) program is the most obvious on farm proof for producers. The records kept on farm, including on farm Biosecurity plans are documented evidence that can be audited and used to demonstrate the commitment producers have to best beef production systems.
As most producers know, participation in LPA allows access to the current version of the National Vendor Declaration (NVD). It’s practically impossible to sell livestock to feedlots or abattoirs without a correctly completed NVD.
Correctly completed NVDs are essential in underpinning our production statements
An NVD provides potential customers with a range of information that underpins their decisions on purchasing livestock. Many of these decisions are linked to food safety requirements that form part of marketing arrangements or restrict access to markets. So, getting this information right the first time helps reduce the risk of damaging the markets confidence in “Clean, Green & Safe”
As producers signing an NVD there are several questions that require answers regarding feed programs, health treatments and residue status. Feed and health treatments can be cross checked with on farm LPA records. But what about residue status?
“In the past 6 months have any of these animals been on a property listed on the ERP database or placed under any restrictions because of chemical residues?”
From the 13th of January 2020, its now possible to check the Warning status of any PIC on the National Livestock Identification Database. In the past producers who may have received warnings as the result of residue or other programs assigned by State of Commonwealth government bodies were harder to locate. This meant that the responsibility for correctly answering Question 5 on the NVD “In the past 6 months have any of these animals been on a property listed on the ERP database or placed under any restrictions because of chemical residues?” fell to the individual vendor.
While vendors have an obligation to correctly and honestly answer this question, there are concerns that cattle may have been agisted on properties where the ERP status was not known. This made answering the question difficult. Not to mention the occasions when the question was incorrectly answered. This posed a risk for processors and for the integrity of our industry.
In order to make the system more robust, processors and feedlot operators were able to use the NLIS data base to check the status of a PIC consigning cattle to them. This did help reduce the risk of animals entering the food chain before they were eligible. However, for producers seeking to purchase cattle or who were sending cattle to agistment, this hasn’t been an option.
Producers, agents, feedlotters & processors can all check for status assigned to a PIC
However, the change to the Early Warning System announced by Integrity Systems, the operators of the NLIS database, now allows anyone who has access to the NLIS database to search for and see if a PIC has a status assigned to it.
It’s worth noting that it won’t be possible to see which individual animal may have a status assigned to it. However, in the overall operation of the NVD question it refers to any animals that are listed on the form.
These changes were made following a lot of industry feedback and should be seen as a way to increase transparency and certainty around cattle. For producers it’s a chance to look for and manage risks with purchasing or agisting stock. It also means greater certainty in their responses to the NVD questions.
While the ability to search and check the stats assigned to a PIC is important in determining the level of risk associated with purchasing cattle, I think its also a great way to keep abreast of your own PIC status. It doesn’t hurt to check regularly and make sure that all is in order with your own records.
For more specific details or answers to Frequently Asked Questions, please follow this link to Integrity Systems Information pages.