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Tracking & Tracing : Key Issues For Veterinary Practice

Tagging has proved its value in helping to track and trace both domestic and farm animals. Microchip tags, usingRFID (Radio Frequency Identification) are now widely used to provide pet owners with peace of mind and to helpfarmers provide the traceability of livestock needed to promote public confidence in food safety.Developments in RFID technology, legislation and wide scale public acceptance are combining to increase theimportance of this technology to veterinary practices. Even so, the use of RFID for animal tracking and tracing isnot without its challenges. Differences in standards between the EU and the USA can create problems for animalmovement between Europe and North America. And, recently, concerns were expressed about whether RFID chipscould cause certain types of cancer in animals.

This short guide from CoreRFID, specialists in tracking and tracing technology for veterinary practices, outlines thecurrent state of the art and the issues surrounding the use of RFID for animals.

Farm Animals & Pony Tagging

DEFRA publishes a wide range of details on the legislationconcerning the tagging of livestock to ensure theidentification and traceability of animals.

Until now, none of these tagging systems has requiredmicrochip identification of livestock. The Horse Passportscheme and cattle tagging schemes both recognise the useof microchips as secondary tagging identification and

some horse breed societies require the use of microchips inconjunction with a silhouette for Horse Passports for their breed.

However, from 1st July 2009 all foals born in the EU or imported will have to be tagged.

Under Commission Regulation (EC) No 504/2008 allequidae will have to be tagged with a microchip complyingwith standard ISO 11784 and able to be read by an ISO11785 compatible reading device.

DEFRA has also announced that all sheep will need to be tagged from 31/12/2009 to comply with EC regulation 21/2004.

Race horse breeders have used equine chip taggingwith success since 1999.

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Pet Tagging

The Kennel Club, operators of the PetLog database, claim that over 3.5 million pet owners have chipped their pet. Whenregistered with the PetLog database owners and animals can be re-united in the event of an animal being lost or stolen. Thepattern of animal theft across the country is mixed with increases reported in urban areas but little change seen in other

places. However, recent changes in legislation that mean that since April this year the police are no longer required to take in lost dogs. This has made the practice of pet chipping, especially for dogs, more important than ever.

The PetLog database grew by over half a million new registrations in 2007 andtheir 24 hour lost-and-found service handled one call for every forty animals onthe database.

Unfortunately, as highlighted by the Vets Get Scanning campaign(http://tinyurl.com/6ntvlu), best practice in respect of pet chipping and scanning isnot always followed. As few as a third of vets routinely scan dogs on their first visitto validate whether or not the animal has a microchip, local authorities do notalways scan found animals, especially when dead animals are found at the roadside and incidents have been advised of vets injecting non-standard chips. Now,guidelines have been published by both the BSAVA and the RCVS(http://tinyurl.com/5te39g).

One important problem relating to RFID technology is that the standards used inEurope are different to those used in the USA and that not all chips conform to

recognised international standards. Where animal chipping is intended to be used in conjunction with a pet passport, it isessential that only chips conforming to recognised standards are used. (DEFRA recommend chips conforming to ISO Standard11784 or Annex A to ISO Standard 11785. An animal whose chip cannot be read (whether because the chip is faulty or

because the reader cannot recognise it) when returning to the UK, for example, will need to be quarantined for 6 months,causing the owner both distress and expense.

How Safe are Animal Chips?

In late 2007 reports in the USA raised concerns about the use of injected RFID chips in humansand animals; highlighting cases in which tumours were reported to have arisen at the site of the implant in laboratory mice.

However, work done by the BSAVA (and cited by the American Veterinary Medical Associationin its guidance), indicates that while it can occur in domestic animals the risks are extremelylow.

Data collected over the last 10 years by the BSAVA shows that only 361 adverse reactions hadbeen reported over 4 million animals, a rate of about 0.009%. Of these only 2 instances of atumour associated with a microchip implant was reported.

The most common problems associated with the use of chips in animals (over 54% of theadverse reactions reported to the BSAVA) relates to the problem of migration, where a chipimplanted at one point moves within the body of the animal concerned.

Some work has been done indicating that polymer coatings for RFID chip encapsulations maylimit the problem. The risks of migration can also be reduced by improved injection technique.

About CoreRFID

CoreRFID products for veterinary practices are available through the RFID On-Line Shop (www.rfidshop.com/vet_store) or contact CoreRFID through www.corerfid.com, telephone +44 (0) 845 071 0985, or email info@corerfid.com.

Data collated by theBSAVA shows therisks of tumours isminimal .

The CoreRFID RT100 is a highperformance, reliable, pet tagreader. The RT100 can hold detailsof up to 1000 tags.