The federal government is providing up to 3 million dollars to three national organizations to enhance animal welfare.

Agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau says the organizations will draw on new research to update industry standards for the care and handling of animals and evaluate technology to trace farm animals in the production system in the event of a disease outbreak.

The recipients include the Calgary based Canadian Cattle Identification agency.

The agency will receive up to 52 thousand dollars to evaluate the use of ultra high frequency scanners to read cattle id tags to quickly trace animals in case of a disease outbreak.

Animal Health Canada will receive up to 2.9 million dollars to update national codes of practice for the livestock sector, including the safe and humane transportation of livestock.

The Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council will receive up to 36 thousand dollars to update its animal welfare program for hatcheries.
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