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Press Release
For Immediate Release
For more information contact:
Glenn Smith, 303.682.9898, Glenn.Smith@aginfolink.com
AgInfoLink Reaches Traceability Milestones
Longmont, CO, August 28, 2007 - AgInfoLink USA, a privately-held food information solutions provider, announced today the achievement of significant milestones in the growing traceability marketplace. AgInfoLink has recorded over six million five-hundred thousand (6,500,000) individual animal enrollments through its global database. Significant in this multi-million animal volume are transactions from across the globe including USA, Australia, Latin America, and Canada. In addition to its livestock business, AgInfoLink continues to grow in the rapidly expanding fruits and vegetables field. Over four million five-hundred thousand (4,500,000) production units (boxes/cartons) have been processed through grower locations and processing facilities.
Mark Armentrout, AgInfoLink’s Chief Operating Officer and co-founder, attributes AgInfoLink’s growth to several factors. “Animal identification and traceability are becoming more important around the world. The fact that we doubled our animal volume over the past 18 months demonstrates the acceleration in demand for traceability services. In Australia, NLIS (National Livestock Identification System) compliance is the primary driver. In the USA, age and source verification for export compliance is a huge reason our business has grown. In the fruits and vegetables sector, export compliance and operational efficiencies drive packer/processors to use the flexible FacTrak traceability solutions AgInfoLink provides.”
“Important to growth in the USA livestock marketplace has been the addition of the USDA-approved Process Verified Program (PVP),” adds Glenn Smith, USA Country Manager for AgInfoLink. “In August 2007, AgInfoLink crossed the 200,000 head enrollment mark for animals in our PVP for Age and Source Verification. This total underscores the confidence a wide base of producers have in AgInfoLink.” AgInfoLink is one of the highest volume PVP programs in the USA.
A key component of AgInfoLink’s Process Verified Program is the ability to connect information across the meat and livestock supply chain. Producers enrolled in AgInfoLink’s PVP for age and source verification meet a critical supplier evaluation required by all major beef packers to supplier verified cattle for beef export eligibility.
AgInfoLink offers additional information verification services to the livestock industry. AgInfoLink verification services can provide an auditable information trail to verify a number of industry requirements and marketing claims. Verification specifically for age and source is provided through AgInfoLink’s USDA-approved Processed Verification Program. AgInfoLink has partnered with a number of associations, animal health companies, nutrition providers, alliances, and states to deliver verification services to livestock producers across the USA. These partners, under the training and oversight of AgInfoLink, provide customer enrollment, training, and auditing to verify claims. AgInfoLink’s Process Verification Program approval gives customers the opportunity and flexibility to participate in a wide variety of marketing channels. They can collect a number of data points in order to substantiate age and source verification. Data collection may occur with any of AgInfoLink’s traceability tools and through third party systems.
AgInfoLink has also been approved by USDA as an Animal Tracking Database for the interim/development phase of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) granted the approval for participation after a rigorous independent review of AgInfoLink’s system including patented software and hardware infrastructure. AgInfoLink meets the requirements to share customer data on a voluntary basis to USDA’s information system to track livestock movements in an animal disease surveillance or emergency. AgInfoLink is also an approved AIN Manager. As such, AgInfoLink can distribute official USDA animal identification tags to its customers.
AgInfoLink offers information management services and solutions to the livestock industry. Solutions include animal identification devices like tags and RFID readers, verification services including age and source verification through its USDA-approved Processed Verified Program (PVP), software or paper-based data collection methods, and information reporting and analysis tools.
For more information about AgInfoLink’s animal identification and traceability solutions, contact AgInfoLink at 800-287-8787 or info@aginfolink.com.
About AgInfoLink
Traceability Starts Here. Founded in 1997, AgInfoLink designs and develops secure, high quality, traceability solutions for the world’s food supply. The company’s products provide the food industry with data collection, secure data transmission, data warehousing, reporting and analysis tools for increasing profits and reducing risk. AgInfoLink solutions provide customers increased efficiencies, increased commodity value, and “value traceability” from the farm to the table. The company’s headquarters are located in Longmont, CO. (www.aginfolink.com)
About the USDA Process Verified Program
The USDA Process Verified Program provides suppliers of agricultural products or services the opportunity to assure customers of their ability to provide consistent quality products or services. This is accomplished by having their documented manufacturing or service delivery processes verified through independent, third party audits. http://processverified.usda.gov/
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