The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has given a significant update on the traceability and disease control system in Northern Ireland.

The latest stage of the Northern Ireland Food Animal Information System (NIFAIS) is set to go live on Monday, October 6.

Stage one for cattle went live in September 2023 and on October 6, all remaining species, including pigs, sheep and poultry, will move to the NIFAIS.

To facilitate the migration of data from the current Animal Public Health Information System (APHIS) to the NIFAIS, both systems need to be taken offline for all users from 4:00p.m on Saturday, October 4. 

DAERA said that market operators need to ensure all animals are moved into markets prior to this time and exports scheduled for Saturday evening will need to have all paperwork generated in advance of this deadline.

Markets, abattoirs and exporters will be granted limited access to NIFAIS on Sunday, October 5, to allow processing of urgent moves.

NIFAIS On-Line, for farmers, will be unavailable until NIFAIS services come online from October 6.

DAERA said: "NIFAIS stage two go-live will be dependent on successful data migration and testing over the weekend of October 4 and 5. 

"External stakeholders will be kept up to date with progress over the weekend and, if there are issues that prevent stage two being deployed, NIFAIS stage one and APHIS will be available as usual to all stakeholders from 6:00a.m on October 6.

"This is a once in a generation change and users should be aware that all has been done to minimise disruption while ensuring the integrity of our farmed animal traceability systems."