Smallstock traceability pilot studies (NSW plant)

This project was undertaken with funding from AMPC, to examine traceability at the processing level in sheep. The study was carried out at Gundagai Meat Processors, which has had an additional aim to pair individual animal EID information back to individual carcase feedback produced.

Hardware was supplied by Allflex and software by Triton, with all installation carried out between April 2022 and February 2023. A range of system tests including software requirements, hardware requirements, and testing requirements were carried out to validate the system.

A range of issues were overcome through the project, from read rate issues, to hardware failures, to software integration issues. The three key learnings of the study are the lengthy timeframe required to embed traceability technology (up to 12-18 months), the importance of a designated staff member to ensure issues are dealt with competently and in a timely manner, and the requirement for a process to ensure validation can occur in a situation of low numbers of EID tags are moving through processing plants.