National Farm-Level Biosecurity Standard for the Goat Industry

OTTAWA, September 23, 2011: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), in collaboration with the Canadian National Goat Federation, is developing a voluntary national standard for farm-level biosecurity for the goat industry.

An advisory group will guide the standard’s development. This group comprises representatives from the Canadian National Goat Federation, goat producers, veterinarians, academia, and provincial and federal governments.

As part of the development process of the standard, the CFIA will do a national consultation with goat producers. This will help to identify best practices in industry and give producers an opportunity to have input into the standard.

A guidance document will accompany the standard. It will provide more details on how producers can achieve the principles outlined in the standard.

The standard will take approximately two years to develop and will complement existing farm-level programs. Producers may use the standard as a tool to develop premise specific biosecurity programs or complement their existing goat disease control programs.

Farm-level biosecurity refers to activities that minimize the risk of introducing and spreading disease and pests. The standard will be a voluntary tool that:

• provides a consistent approach to disease mitigation and pest reduction across the country;
• offers biosecurity goals and measures that will support on farm practices; and
• will help producers identify potential gaps in control measures, which can lead to better disease prevention and control at the farm level.

Funding for this initiative is provided by the Growing Forward program of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

For more information on animal biosecurity, please visit www.inspection.gc.ca/biosecurity. For more information on the goat biosecurity standard project, or to provide feedback, please contact the Canadian National Goat Federation.

For more information:

Canadian Food Inspection Agency
1-800-442-2342

Canadian National Goat Federation
1-888-839-4271