Monday, January 23, 2006  Good Morning!

Bio-Terrorism Act Mandates New Recordkeeping Rules for Grain and Feed Handlers (01/09/06 07:55)

OMAHA (DTN) -- According to a company release, those grain elevator operations that receive, hold, and ship raw agricultural commodities, such as corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa meal, and other crops, are mandated by the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 to register all their facilities, wherever food grains are received, cleaned, stored, blended, and processed, and then shipped. This mandate to keep records of all grain received and shipped through the facilities is required to help prevent acts of contamination either by terrorists or by natural contamination. Feed mill operations that receive raw agricultural commodities and manufacture them into animal and pet feed also are required to comply with this law. Even the delivery truck and its drivers have to be recorded. The recordkeeping process must be in place by June 2006. After this date, all records must be available to the FDA as soon as possible, and no longer than 24 hours after a request is made if an act of contamination is tracked to a grain handling operation. ScoringAg.com provides all necessary records, including location records for all PIDCs (Premise IDentification Codes) and other premises codes. Traceback is available in just seconds. ScoringAg's Point-to-Point Traceback traceback system keeps the crop ID from the field through the elevator or storage, and the transporters log through every processing stage, from the grower to the table. ScoringAg adds value to every crop and crop product for just pennies. ScoringAg.com and its traceback and traceup system for agriculture products, featuring Site-Specific Recordkeeping and PIDC location code, is one of the many divisions of ScoringSystem, Inc. With the use of RFID and barcodes for traceup and traceback of livestock and crops, or tracking transport containers or perishable meats and other food consumer goods, www.ScoringAg.com makes managing data easier -- and does it in an extremely cost effective manner from "Field-to-Fork."