National
Poultry Improvement Program
The National Poultry
Improvement Program, NPIP, was started in the early 1930s to coordinate
State programs aimed at the elimination of pullorum disease from commercial
poultry. Pullorum is a bacterial disease that is transmitted from a
hen to her chicks via the egg. By testing adult birds and eliminating
disease carriers from the breeding flock, commercial chicken and turkey
producers have eliminated this costly disease.
The objective
of the NPIP is to provide a cooperative Industry-State-Federal
program through which new technology can be effectively applied to the
improvement of poultry and poultry products throughout the country.
The provisions of the NPIP, developed jointly by industry members and
State and Federal officials, establish standards for the evaluation
of poultry breeding stock and hatchery products with respect to freedom
from egg-transmitted and hatchery-disseminated disease and thereby provides
certification of poultry and poultry products for interstate and
international shipment.
The Administration
of the NPIP is through:
- A Memorandum
of Understanding between the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Official State Agencies
in each participating state.
- A signed memorandum
of participation between the participant and the Official State Agency.
- Provisions of
the NPIP (Title 9, CFR, Parts 145 and 147).
- In special cases
a mutual understanding and agreement, in writing, between the two
Official State Agencies regarding conditions of participation and
supervision in an affiliated flock located in another State.
- State regulations
applicable to the adminstration of the NPIP in such States further
defining the provisions of the Plan or establishing higher standards
compatible with the NPIP.
Participation
- Any person producing
or dealing in products may participate in the NPIP when he or she
has demonstrated, to the satisfaction of the Official State Agency,
that his or her facilities, personnel, and practices are adequate
for carrying out the applicable provisions of the NPIP.
- A participant
in any State shall participate with all of his or her poultry hatching
egg supply flocks and hatchery operations within such State.
- The only required
classification for participation in the NPIP is "U.S. Pullorum-Typhoid
Clean".
- Participation
in the Plan shall entitle the participant to use the NPIP emblem reproduced
below:
- Subpart provisions
for participating flocks:
- B - Egg-Type
Chickens
- C - Meat-Type
Chickens
- D - Turkeys
- E - Waterfowl,
Exhibition Poultry, and Game Birds
- Participating
hatcheries shall be designated as "National Plan Hatchery"
- Participating
dealers shall be designated as "National Plan Dealer"
- Participating
flocks, products produced from them, and States which have met the
respective requirements may be designated by the terms or illustrative
designs specified in Title 9, CFR, Subpart 145.10.
General Conference
Committee
- Assist the Department
in planning, organizing, and conducting the biennial NPIP Conference.
- Recommend whether
new proposals should be considered by the delegates to the NPIP Conference.
- During the interim
between Plan Conferences, represent the cooperating States in advising
the Department with respect to administrative procedures and interpretations
of the NPIP provisions.
- Assist the Department
in evaluating comments received from interested persons concerning
proposed amendments to the NPIP provisions.
- Recommend to
the Secretary of Agriculture any changes in the provisions of the
Plan as may be necessitated by unforseen conditions when postponement
until the next NPIP Conference would seriously impair the operation
of the program.
- Serve as a forum
for the study of problems relating to poultry health and to make specific
recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture concerning ways in
which the Department may assist the industry in solving these problems.
Where to get more
information:
National Poultry
Improvement Program
USDA, APHIS, VS
1500 Klondike Rd., Suite 102
Conyers, Georgia 30207-5115
United States Department
of Agriculture
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Veterinary Services
