The livestock sector occupies a very important place in the economy of Italy and the European Union, both from a purely commercial and from a productive point of view, with consequences for markets and for human and animal health. This gives rise to the necessity for the competent authorities at European Community level to provide themselves with more effective tools for understanding and monitoring these problems.

Animal Identification and Registration Database is an essential tool for accurate knowledge of the size and details of livestock holdings. In this field it is vital to provide economic support to operators who conform to good practice; to assess the environmental impact of the various types of production; to monitor the state of health of the stock and prevent epidemics; to ensure the wholesomeness of food for animals and for people; and to intervene promptly along the entire length of the food chain in the event of a health incident, thus reassuring citizens about the health of the food that they are consuming.

In January 2002 the Ministry of Health charged the Istituto G. Caporale with the task of planning, creating and managing the computerized National DataBase (BDN) for Livestock Registration. The DataBase currently records all the livestock farms in the country which hold cattle and buffalo, sheep and goats, pigs and poultry. In the case of cattle and buffalo, sheep and goats, the DataBase records the information about the holding where each animal is bred and the most significant details of its identity, and in addition records all its movements (from place to place) within Italy, from birth to slaughter.

The details recorded in the register are entered directly by the keeper (or by someone delegated by the keeper), and by the slaughter in the case of slaughter. To help operators in the sector with consulting and entering information in the National DataBase, a call centre and a help desk have been set up (open from 8:00 to 20:00 Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 14:00 Saturday) on the toll-free number 800 08 22 80, also usable by consumers for clarification on labelling of beef products).

Statistical data can be looked up in the BDN with reference to the various species of animal. In the case of cattle and buffalo the data displayed can be considered official, while as regards other species it should be pointed out that the various databases are still in process of implementation and not yet complete; in fact there is no legal obligation to record some types of data in the BDN.