U.S. animal agriculture wants to improve its ability to trace the movement of livestock from their birthplace to slaughter. Some advocates also want such traceability to reach all the way to the final consumer. Is a national system needed? Should it be mandatory? What would it cost, and who pays? The livestock and meat industries have discussed these questions for some time, and an industry-government working group was developing a national animal identification (ID) plan for livestock disease tracking purposes. The group stated that the health of U.S. herds was "the most urgent issue" and "the most significant focus" of its proposed plan. National interest intensified in the wake of such developments as the discovery in 2003 of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or "mad cow disease") in North America, and ongoing concerns about bioterrorism. Debate over a law requiring retail country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for meats and other products also has fueled interest in increased animal ID capabilities (but was not a focus of the industry-government working group). In 2007, the need for, and design of, an animal ID program will be a topic during debate on a new omnibus farm bill. This report covers animal ID and, to a lesser extent, meat traceability. However, traceability, and the somewhat different but related concepts of "identity preservation" and "product segregation," also pertain to other agricultural products (e.g., grains) and issues (e.g., genetically modified, or GM, crops; the labeling of GM foods; and the production and labeling of organic foods). Several sources cited below, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Economic Research Service (ERS) and Choices articles (see footnote 1 ) and a 2002 Sparks study (see footnote 5 ), cover traceability in more breadth. Animal ID refers to the marking of individual farm animals, or a group or lot of animals, so that they can be tracked from place of birth to slaughter. Many producers already know, and keep records on, the identities of each animal. In addition, many animals have been identified as part of official disease eradication or control programs. However, no nationwide U.S. marking system, backed by universal numbering and a central data registry, is in place yet. Animal ID is one component of meat traceability . Traceability is the more comprehensive concept of tracking the movement of identifiable products through the marketing chain. An extensive form of meat traceability is the ability to follow products forward from their source animal (i.e., birth or ancestry), through growth and feeding, slaughter, processing, and distribution, to the point of sale or consumption (or backward from the consumer to the source animal). Traceability can be used to convey information about a product, such as what it contains, how it was produced, and every place it has been. Animal ID and meat traceability are not themselves food safety, animal disease prevention, quality assurance, or country-of-origin labeling programs. However, they may be important components of such programs. Animal producers and food suppliers already have at least some capacity for tracing products. Many farmers and ranchers keep track of individual animals and how they are being raised. Traceability can help them to identify and exploit desirable production characteristics, such as animals that can grow more rapidly on less feed or that yield a better cut of meat. Universal bar codes on processed food, including many meats, are widely used for tracking. Traceability helps to coordinate shipments, manage inventories, and monitor consumer behavior. Some consumers prefer meat (or eggs or milk) from animals raised according to specified organic, humane treatment, or environmental standards. Traceability can help firms to separate, and keep records on, these unique products to verify production methods. However, in the commercial market, producers benefit (and will provide such products) only to the extent that demand exists. Animal ID can help to track down more quickly the source of diseases in U.S. herds (or flocks) in order to determine their origin and cause, eradicate them, and prevent their spread. In the growing global marketplace, surveillance and containment, aided by a traceability system, can both reassure foreign buyers about the health of U.S. animals and help to satisfy other countries' sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) import requirements. When used in animal health programs, ID and tracing systems are likely to have both commercial and regulatory dimensions. USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is the lead federal agency charged with protecting U.S. animal populations from diseases and pests. APHIS works cooperatively with foreign and state animal health authorities and with the private sector in such efforts. USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is responsible for protecting the public against unsafe meat and poultry. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees the safety of all other foods and also regulates animal feeds. Both collaborate with APHIS and other federal and state agencies to protect the food supply from the introduction, through animals, of threats to human health, such as tuberculosis; the four major bacterial foodborne illnesses, Campylobacter, Salmonella, Listeria , and E. coli O157:H7; and the human form of BSE, a very rare but fatal one known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD). Generally, when local health officials can link an illness to a particular product, firms and their regulators have been able to trace that product back to the processor and/or slaughter facility. It is more difficult and costly, though technically feasible, to determine which particular animals, herds, or flocks were the source of the problem. A rigorous traceback and animal ID system would not prevent safety problems (process controls, testing, and other science-based food safety regimes are intended to do that), but it could facilitate recalls, possibly contain the spread of an illness, and help authorities stem future incidents, according to some analysts. Besides building public confidence in the U.S. food safety system, improved traceability may enable firms to limit their legal and financial liabilities, it has been argued. Thus food safety also has both commercial and regulatory dimensions. Section 10816 of the 2002 farm bill ( P.L. 107-171 ) requires many retailers to provide country-of-origin information on a number of raw products, including fresh and ground beef, pork, and lamb (produce, seafood, and peanuts also are covered). USDA was to implement the requirement by September 30, 2004; until then COOL was voluntary. However, the consolidated FY2004 omnibus appropriation ( P.L. 108-199 ) postponed mandatory COOL for two years for all covered commodities, except farmed fish and wild fish, to September 30, 2006. Congress postponed it again, until September 30, 2008, in the FY2006 agriculture appropriation ( P.L. 109-97 ). Once the 2002 COOL law is implemented, meats labeled as U.S. origin would have to come from animals that are born, raised, and slaughtered in the United States. The COOL law prohibits USDA from establishing a mandatory ID system to verify country of origin, but it does permit USDA to require persons supplying covered commodities to maintain a "verifiable audit trail" to document compliance. Some analysts have concluded, therefore, that COOL could spur efforts to trace red meats back to their birth animals. (Poultry is not covered by the COOL law.) Animal ID dates back at least to the 1800s, when hot iron brands were used throughout the West to indicate ownership. The methods of (and reasons for) identifying and tracking animals and their products have evolved since then and, as noted, are employed for both commercial and regulatory purposes. By the mid-1900s, APHIS and its predecessor agencies were using tags, tattoos and brands more widely, mainly to identify, track, and remove animals affected by disease outbreaks. Current ID methods include ear, back, and tail tags; neck chains, freeze brands, and leg bands. Some producers use radio frequency ID (RFID) transponders with information that is read by scanners and fed into computer databases. For interstate swine movements, mandatory ID requirements have been in place since 1988 for disease control purposes. Most hogs are tracked by group, not individually, and most slaughter plants can identify the owners of the animals under this system. Sheep moved across state lines also are required to be identified. Brucellosis is a highly contagious and costly disease mainly affecting cattle, bison, and swine. Once it was common in the United States, and uniquely numbered brucellosis ID tags were routinely found on animals, with information that they had been vaccinated and/or tested. Today brucellosis has largely been eradicated in commercial U.S. herds. APHIS also has eradication or control programs for tuberculosis, scrapie in sheep, pseudorabies in swine, Texas fever and scabies in cattle, and several poultry diseases, including Exotic Newcastle Disease (END). In each of these programs, APHIS has established rules and procedures to identify and track animals, herds, or flocks back to their origin, if necessary. Government-coordinated programs have been established for other purposes besides animal health. For example, a voluntary process verification program operated by USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) "provides livestock and meat producers an opportunity to assure customers of their ability to provide consistent quality products by having their written manufacturing processes confirmed through independent, third party audits," according to AMS. USDA Process Verified suppliers can have marketing claims such as breeds, feeding practices, or other claims verified by USDA and marketed as "USDA Process Verified."