AFDO Position on Protecting the
Food and Agriculture Infrastructure
May 18, 2005
The Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) successfully fosters uniformity in the adoption and enforcement of science-based food, drug, medical devices, cosmetics and product safety laws, rules, and regulations. For over 100 years, AFDO has served as a major voice for food and drug officials in the United States and Canada.
In 2002, AFDO conducted a survey of state activities showed that, during 2001, state programs performed:
-More than 2.5 million inspections of food establishments
-More than 3,000 food borne illness investigations
-Investigation of over 46,000 consumer complaints
-Response to over 2,800 emergencies or disasters involving food products
-More than 128,000 emergencies or disasters involving food products embargos, seizures and stop sales; injunctions; criminal prosecutions; warning letters; informal hearings; and food recalls; and collection and analyses of over 328,000 food samples, including more than 252,000 microbiological samples.
Based on these figures, more than 80% of the food safety and security activities in the United States are performed at the state or local levels. Consequently, it is clear that state and local food safety programs provide the major portion of the shields that must be in place to deter any sort of terrorist act. With the increasing threat of terrorist activities against our food supply, it is paramount that this cooperative and highly integrated federal, state and local food safety and security system be maintained and strengthened for the deterrence, prevention and detection of terrorist activities.
Single incidents of food borne contamination can have devastating public health and economic consequences – with notable examples of incidents that sickened hundreds of thousands and costing billions in lost trade and consumer confidence. Yet only a small trickle of federal homeland security funding is reaching these front line protectors of the food supply. Data collected by AFDO in 2003 indicated that of $960,000,000 federal counterterrorism funding given to States; approximately $43,000,000 (4.5%) went to Plant & Animal Disease Response, Surveillance and Testing, and $3,600,000 (0.4%) was devoted to protecting all other elements of the food supply.
In 2004, AFDO conducted a Baseline Survey of State Food Program Officials on State Food Security Initiatives. All fifty states responded to this baseline survey. Below are some of the highlights of the survey results:
-Only 52% of respondents indicated that their food program had received funding for food security initiatives.
-Currently, there are only 33 full-time public food defense professionals working for State Health or Agriculture Departments
-Only 4.9 million dollars from the CDC cooperative agreements went directly to food and agriculture protection efforts in 2004
-Only 56% or 28 states have developed a written food emergency response plan
-Only 44% or 22 states have conducted some type of food and agriculture vulnerability assessment
-Only 18% or 9 states have developed some type of vulnerability reduction plan to address food and agriculture vulnerabilities
The survey results have made us aware of the clear need to establish a national strategy for protecting food and agriculture in the United States. This should include a strategy for the states to help both the Government Coordinating Council and the Food and Agriculture Coordinating Council with their goals and objectives in meeting HSPD-9.
Even though some progress has been made in the different areas of food defense, many states have taken different approaches to protecting food and agriculture from intentional contamination. This has created a situation where many efforts are being duplicated and the information stove-piped from state to state.
AFDO has established a Food Security Committee to address these issues. The committee is working on standardizing food and agriculture protection efforts as well as providing a forum for discussion on these issues. The committee has developed a grant proposal to partner with the Department of Homeland Security National Center for Food Protection and Defense at the University of Minnesota to create a secure website to, act as a national clearinghouse for food security information; connect the stakeholders in food and agriculture protection, and provide web-based training.
In order for the states to continue to make progress in food defense preparedness and response efforts, a consistent source of federal funding must be established. This funding would provide the following benefit to protecting the nation’s Food and Agriculture Infrastructure:
-Organize and facilitate a 50-state meeting to leverage our resources and identify subject matter experts for developing a blueprint for the future of food and agricultural protection.
-Provide training and certification food defense professionals
-Continue to assess vulnerabilities in the farm-to-fork food continuum in each state
-Develop vulnerability reduction plans
-Develop food emergency response plans for food and agriculture in each state
-Develop exercises to test preparedness and response efforts
-Work with industry to develop public/private partnerships
-Continue to recommend implementation of food security preventive measures as outlined in the FDA and USDA guidance
-Work with the insurance industries to create return-on-investments for implementing these measures
-Work with industry to develop business recovery plans that may be utilized in a post-incident environment
If a consistent source of funding is secured to work on implementing these food protection measures it will allow all the stakeholders in food and agriculture to unify and move forward together with a sense of urgency to defend this critical infrastructure from the risk of both intentional or unintentional contamination.
Cameron Smoak, President
