RFID Journal on National Animal ID System

by Natasha Chart · 2009-06-01 06:49:00 UTC
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You'd think the founder and editor of the RFID Journal would be thrilled with the idea of mandatory RFID for farm animals. That's a big market. Yet while he supports the idea to some extent, Mark Roberti believes the government is taking the wrong approach. More, he levels what's really the best criticism of the program:

... It's true that the current plan would not enable the government to track the outbreak of a food-borne illness, because there is no tracking of food after it's processed. That is a bigger issue that needs to be tackled—not just with meat producers, but also with fruit and vegetable growers. ...

Rightly or wrongly, I think a lot of people would be willing to put any amount of regulation on the food industry to prevent the next Salmonella or E. coli outbreak. I sympathize.

However, it doesn't mean salvation from food-borne illness. It isn't even close. It's just an expensive mess that will hurt the small farmers who have to tag individual animals instead of entire herds. Do we have the money to waste this year on things that don't work? I think not.

Not like it'd be fine to waste money otherwise, but it seems like an especially bad idea right now.

Natasha Chart
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