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Some 130 external users, including meat factories and marts, have access to the national Animal Identification and Movement (AIM) system, which contains the age and movement information of all cattle in the country.
Farmers have previously voiced concerns that the system could be manipulated by factories to gain an overview of factory-fit cattle coming on to the market.
However, the Department of Agriculture has insisted that factories can only access the AIM system to find information on cattle sent for slaughter and cannot access specific farm herd registers.
No access
“Slaughter plants can access AIM only in respect of individual animals presented for slaughter and they do not have access to information on other cattle on the holding of the presenting herd keeper,” a spokesperson for the Department said.
“They do not have access to age profiles of animals on AIM, either generally or in respect of any individual herd.”
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