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The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in partnership with
the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS), today signed a cooperative agreement with the National Association
of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) to further develop integrated
federal-state response plans for food and agricultural emergencies. This
agreement advances one of the many homeland security directives set by President Bush to improve federal, state and local cooperation through enhanced response
and recovery procedures in the event of a disaster.
“Strengthening the food security infrastructure
remains a high priority for the Bush Administration,” said Agriculture
Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Elsa Murano. “An integrated
federal-state response plan will supplement the nation’s strong
food safety threat response system with additional measures to improve
the ability of federal, state and local officials to prevent deliberate
food contamination.”
USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS),
FDA and DHS’s Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection
are funding the development of an integrated approach to prepare for and
respond to emergencies affecting national agriculture and food infrastructure.
"This agreement greatly strengthens the essential
food safety network of federal, state and municipal governments,"
said Acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Lester Crawford.
"Establishment of clear and consistent practices for combating threats
to the food supply is a necessary prerequisite to the public health imperative
of providing secure, safe and nutritious food for all Americans."
The state departments of agriculture will gain technical
expertise from FSIS, FDA and DHS officials through workgroups and tabletop
exercises. Best practices and guidelines for federal and state food regulatory
officials will be developed to address lessons learned from case studies
and threat assessments.
"Securing our nation's food supply requires a
unified effort from the federal to the farm level," said Frank Libutti,
Under Secretary for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection
at the Department of Homeland Security. "This agreement is our next
step in making sure that
everyone is working together to keep our nation safe."
The cooperative agreement will occur in three phases
with the first phase starting immediately and phase three concluding by
June 2005. During the first phase, a workgroup, comprised of federal,
state and local officials, will gather information about existing state
emergency response systems and how food/agricultural safety and security
emergencies will be handled within the various states. The workgroup,
during the second phase, will then develop an interagency response plan,
which includes state and local participation, conduct tabletop exercises
and pilots to test functionality of the emergency response plan and refine
it based on lessons-learned and other input. Phase three will involve
the development of guidelines for federal food and agricultural regulatory
agencies to cooperate with state and local emergency response efforts,
thus facilitating federal assistance to be made available more quickly
and appropriately to assist the local response and recovery efforts.
Coordination and cooperation among stakeholders in
food safety and security continues to be a principal commitment of the
Administration as it continually strives to make greater advances in protecting
the nation’s food supply from intentional and unintentional threats.
Additional information about food security is available on the FSIS Web
page at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Food_Security_&_Emergency
_Preparedness/index.asp and FDA’s Web page at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fsterr.html.
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