The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will be holding two additional public meetings on the animal disease traceability framework approach. The meetings will take place this month in Salt Lake City, Utah, and next month in Fort Worth, Texas. Additional meetings will be scheduled in the coming weeks.

In May 2010 USDA hosted three public meetings to discuss Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's new framework for animal disease traceability. Meetings were held May 11 in Kansas City, Mo.; May 13 in Riverdale, Md.; and May 17 in Denver, Colo. Approximately 60 people attended each meeting. For more information on these as well as future meetings, please visit APHIS' website.

These meetings are being scheduled to discuss animal disease traceability with livestock industry representatives and members of the public to gather feedback on appropriate approaches under the new framework. The public meetings will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time, with registration starting one hour prior to each meeting. The meetings will be held in the following locations:

• Thursday, June 24: Salt Lake City, Utah

• Thursday, July 1: Ft. Worth, Texas

A Federal Register notice about the meetings is forthcoming to officially announce the meetings. Additional meetings will be scheduled in the coming weeks