USDA approves two animal ID systems

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on Oct. 11 announced the approval of two new animal identification devices: a visual tag with radio frequency identification (RFID) from Leader Products and the first approved injectable transponder from Digital Angel. The devices carry an official animal identification number (AIN), which is used to identify individual animals as part of USDA’s National Animal Identification System (NAIS). USDA is technology neutral and supports a range of NAIS-compliant identification methods. All NAIS-compliant RFID devices are ISO-compliant and therefore, an ISO-compliant reader would read any of them.
(USDA press release; USDA NAIS homepage)