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Food Safety

The impact of transmissible animal diseases and the measures necessary to control those diseases can be very severe for individual animals, animal populations, animal keepers and the economy. Preventing and controlling diseases transmissible to animals or to humans is an important issue for operators and competent authorities.

In case of a disease outbreak it is crucial to know where animals kept in the outbreak establishment came from and also where animals from this establishment went to in the time period when transmission of the disease was likely to take place.

Traceability of the animals is achieved by ensuring correct identification and exchange of information as well as record keeping in establishments.

Operators keeping porcine animals have to ensure (see Article 115 of the Animal Health Law, Regulation (EU) 2016/429) that each animal is identified with at least one eartag or a tattoo (see Articles 52 to 55 of Regulation (EU) 2019/2035).

All identifications must show the codes in a visible, legible and indelible display. The identification has to be applied within 9 months from birth or when the animal leaves the establishment of birth (see Article 15 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/520).

If moved to another establishment within the Member State, the information on movements has to be transmitted by the operator to the computer database of that member state within 7 days (see Article 3 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/520) or the animals have to be accompanied by a correctly completed movement document.