Current tools and technologies for the identification and traceability

Radio frequency identification (RFID) systems were introduced in the 1970ies mainly for farm management purposes. They were followed in the 1990ies by the use of injectable transponders for companion animals. Since the beginning of this age, many countries have introduced animal identification schemes based upon RFID. The technology, its use and the testing of the equipment are defined in ISO standards. The International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) is the international registration authority for animal RFID and publishes approved products on its Website (www.icar.org). The low frequency signal is not influenced by body tissue, so the transponder technology can be used as eartag, injectable, bolus and leg tag. The RFID transponder itself does not give information about the animal or the owner of the animal, but the identification code (ID-code) links the animal to related information (of the animal and the owner) in a database. The database can be hosted on the farm, by the manufacturer of the RFID transponder or by a national body. A central database on a national level is preferable over a database on farm level, because tracking and tracing is much quicker and more effective, and other systems (such as herd book, Health Service) can be easily linked to it. The allocation of ID-codes being produced must be registered in a database to eliminate the risk of having identical ID-code for different animals. Depending on the coding of the transponder (country code or manufacturer code), the legal authority or the manufacturer of the transponders is responsible for maintaining such a database. At this stage, low frequency RFID technology is generally considered as the most efficient technology for identifying animals