Seminar on the National Identification and Registration System for bees

On the 23rd of February a seminar on “The use of the web-application for the management of the National Identification and Registration System for bees" was held at the Centro Internazionale per la Formazione e l’Informazione Veterinaria “F. Gramenzi”. The course was designed for the representatives of the Italian Beekeeper Federation (Federazione Apicoltori Italiani) (FAI) and other operators of the sector and had the objective of informing them about the functional modules of the computer system and to explain its practical use.

The Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise "G. Caporale" (IZSAM) has a high level of technical competences in the sector of Animal Identification and Registration due to the 10-years management of the National Service Centre, which was established by the Ministry of Health in January 2002 with the aim at planning, implementing and managing the National Database - zootechnical livestock management system (Banca Dati Nazionale informatizzata dell’Anagrafe Zootecnica) (BDN).

Also, on the 19th of January 2015, a National Identification and Registration System for bees was created for the traceability of such small animals, who represent an essential pillar for the agriculture of every country.

The system enables the beekeepers to register on the Veterinary Computer System Portal reachable through the Ministry of Health website, to which the operators of the Local Health Units (Asl), the farms and farmers have access and can register their business, communicate a new opening, specify the size of the apiaries and the number of beehives or the movements for trading.

The National Identification and Registration System for bees has been created to protect bees and beekeepers given the serious pathologies which affected the bee population over the recent period. As the Minister of Health Beatrice Lorenzin declared: “It is an important step forward for both the beekeepers’ work and the health of consumers. The new identification and registration system will guarantee the traceability of apiaries and honey, the legitimacy of the financial public contributions for beekeepers and, above all, it will facilitate the control on the diseases of bees and the management of emergences”.