Northern Ireland-Leading the pack in traceability.

NORTHERN IRELAND-IMPORTANT MILESTONE IN TRACEABILITY.

Software provider Trace First has secured $620,000 (£434,000) worth of business with the New York State government.

The company, which makes software that enables livestock traceability, animal disease surveillance and emergency planning in the event of contamination in the food chain, will supply its products to the state’s agricultural department for the next three years.

The US deal comes less than two years after Trace First was established.

Invest NI start-up support helped the firm roll out a major export marketing campaign, while Trace First also received support from the Transform programme - part funded by the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation.

Co-founder of Trace First Michael McGrath said: "Similar to many countries, the agriculture sector is of major importance to the US economy. Consequently, there is a need for government authorities to have in place traceability systems for livestock as well as emergency plans to track the spread of any dangerous disease outbreak. Our software delivers this and features a user-friendly interface designed with the customer in mind."

Mr McGrath added that Invest NI’s support had been crucial in raising awareness of its products in target markets.

"The deals with NY State follow extensive consideration and scrutiny by US Government procurement agencies. This required our products to meet their stringent standards of value for money, service delivery and after-sales care. Having done this, we are now well positioned to attract business from other US state administrations and to target new sales in other major agricultural markets such as New Zealand, the UK and Ireland," he said.

"We are also expanding our business into other sectors where we can apply the types of process improvement we’ve successfully delivered in New York to clients closer to home."

Invest NI’s southern regional office manager Mark Bleakney said Trace First is tapping into the significant market opportunity created by legislation governing the food chain.

"This is a growth area, despite the current economic climate, and to secure such a high profile client is an excellent endorsement of the company’s product offering," he said.