WASHINGTON — The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the US Department of Agriculture stated last week that it would extend the comment period on a proposal to strengthen animal disease traceability regulations.

The extension will give the public a chance to submit comments until April 19.

During January 2023, the agency shared its proposal to amend regulations and require electronic identification for interstate movement of certain cattle and bison. The APHIS plan also uses the term electronic identification (EID) tags opposed to radio frequency identification (RFID), which was used in the past.

The regulations would also revise and clarify certain record requirements related to cattle, which includes official identification device distribution records to be entered into a Tribal, State or Federal database and making those records available to APHIS upon request.

The agency is asking the public to provide comments on how the proposed rule would impact the regulated community and how APHIS would assist in implementing the changes.

Comments can be submitted at the link here.