Chair of the Safemeat Initiatives Review Steering Group John Wyld.

With support from the Victorian Government and Dairy Australia, LSAV has been working with commercial software providers to trial the viability of electronic declarations.

As the industry’s service provider MLA has been developing the framework for a national electronic vendor declaration system. The outcomes of these first stage initiatives will now be combined to underpin the national approach.

Following the successful outcomes of the demonstration day the SAFEMEAT Partners, with representation from industry and government, have endorsed recommendations from the SAFEMEAT Initiatives Review Steering Group that a national approach be taken.

Chair of SAFEMEAT Initiatives Review Steering Group, John Wyld, said the new national system would be designed to ensure maximum access for all involved, including producers, saleyards, agents, processors, feedlots, and would also be closely linked to the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS).

“Significant progress has already been made as a result of trials that have been conducted this year – and roll-out is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2015,” Mr Wyld said.

As part of the outcomes of the demonstration day, an eNVD working group has been established to drive the national initiative forward. The working group will report to the SAFEMEAT Initiatives Review Steering Group.

President of the LSAV, Stuart McLean said that the swift roll-out of a national eNVD solution would reduce the risk of a range of independent commercial eNVD systems becoming embedded in supply chains.

“To work towards the common goal of developing a national eNVD solution, it was decided that a set of standards around data storage, transmission, security, verification and integrity would need to be established,” Mr McLean said.

Chair of the LPA Advisory Committee Kevin Roberts said these standards will help to form the proposed licensing arrangements that participating software providers will adhere to when implementing a national eNVD system.”

While it is not proposed that users would need to be LPA accredited to use an electronic declaration, LPA accreditation status will be automatically verified and incorporated into the declaration and then supplied within the eNVD to the party receiving the livestock.

Mr Roberts believes that this approach will ensure market and commercial requirements continue to drive the uptake of this critical industry assurance program.

To support the adoption of the new eNVD system, an extensive awareness and training program will be developed for implementation from early 2015.

Source: Safemeat