Remarks prepared for Dr. Barbara J. Masters, Acting Administrator, Food Safety and Inspection Service, at the Association of Food and Drug Officials' 109th Annual Conference, June 6, 2005, in Kansas City, MO

Introduction

Thank you Marion. Good morning. I truly appreciate the invitation to be here at the AFDO annual conference.

We at the Food Safety and Inspection Service value our growing relationship with AFDO. FSIS membership has increased by more than 40 percent as compared with last year. I hope these numbers continue to increase. We are encouraging people from all levels within the Agency to work more closely with your organization.

FSIS Overview

For almost 100 years, American consumers have depended on the United States Department of Agriculture to ensure the safety of their meat, poultry and egg products. FSIS enters the next century confident in our ability to safeguard important segments of the nation's food supply.

Fulfilling this public health mandate is a demanding responsibility and an exciting challenge. Each year, more than 100 billion pounds of red meat, poultry and liquid egg products are verified safe and secure by more than 7,500 FSIS inspection personnel in approximately 6,300 plants.

We believe that any effective food safety and security system must be rooted in science. To meet its goal of protecting public health, FSIS will continue to review policies and regulations. We will also work with interested parties to modernize and further enhance our inspection and food safety and security verification efforts.

Food Safety Accomplishments

Fortunately, we are seeing a number of significant public health improvements, as evidenced by the decline in foodborne illness over the last seven years.

In April the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported continued reductions in foodborne illnesses from 1996 through 2004 stemming from E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter, and Yersinia. The CDC attributes the changes in the incidence of these infections in part to the control measures implemented by government and industry leaders and enhanced food-safety education efforts.

At the same time, we are seeing improvements in the data we collect from our regulatory sampling programs. This year FSIS released data showing a 43.3 percent drop in E. coli O157:H7 positive ground beef regulatory samples collected in 2004 compared with 2003. Between 2000 and 2004 the percentage of positive samples in FSIS regulatory sampling has declined by more than 80 percent, which we consider to be an enormous accomplishment.

These data demonstrate the continuing success of our agency's strong, science-based policies aimed at reducing pathogens in America's meat, poultry and egg products.

FSIS is committed to continue making advancements. To continue being a successful public health regulatory agency, FSIS must ensure several things:

• Science-based policies are essential;
• Effective communication is critical;
• Management controls must be in place for all parts of the Agency; ensuring efficient and effective program management;
• FSIS employees must be properly trained;
• Inspection and enforcement must keep moving forward, both in the domestic and international arenas; and
• Food security must remain a top priority—we must continue to be vigilant.

I mention these to demonstrate food security is one of FSIS' top priorities. Now in keeping with the theme of this year's conference Implementing Strategies for Food Protection and Defense, I will focus my remaining remarks on our priority of food security.

FSIS has a significant role in food security.

Protection of the United States' food supply is critical for maintaining the safety and health of the nation's citizens and the security of our economy. FSIS has a solid and well-functioning food safety infrastructure in place to protect the public from contamination—whether this might be unintentional or intentional.

Within FSIS, a distinct program area, the Office of Food Security and Emergency Preparedness (OFSEP)—whose sole responsibility is food security—was established. OFSEP works in concert with other entities to ensure that food security activities are coordinated and resources are used efficiently.

Dr. Carol Maczka heads up OFSEP. She will be delivering a presentation this afternoon, which will go into more detail about the innovative projects FSIS currently has underway.

Food security can not be done alone; partnership is a critical element for success.

As already discussed, it is important to understand that food security can not be accomplished through one lone action nor through just one organization. Food security is a shared responsibility of FSIS and our many partners to prevent or respond to the contamination of food products and we continue to make these multiple efforts a priority. We are all in this together and partnering on local, state, Federal and even international levels is a critical element for success.

Federal Collaboration

FSIS works closely within USDA, the White House, the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, and other federal agencies to coordinate our food security efforts. The Agency continues to work with the White House Homeland Security Council's Interagency Food Working Group to develop a seamless interdepartmental strategy to best protect the food supply and minimize it as a target for terrorist activity.

Food Emergency Response Network

One collaborative food security activity is the Food Emergency Response Network (FERN). Since Ms. Glavin provided the details, I will keep my remarks brief here. FERN is a coordinated initiative led by FSIS and FDA to develop a laboratory network capable of providing ongoing surveillance and monitoring of food. FERN is also for the purpose of conducting the extensive sampling necessary in the event of a terrorist attack on the food supply.

Essentially, FERN was created to provide an integrated means of protecting the food supply at the local, state and national levels.

Specifically, laboratories participating in FERN are responsible for detecting and identifying biological, chemical and radiological agents in food.

Working in conjunction with FERN is the Electronic Laboratory Exchange Network (eLEXNET). eLEXNET is a web-based database that provides for the rapid reporting of laboratory results and the electronic exchange of food safety data and methods among FERN members.

We also acknowledge and appreciate AFDO support in this area.

Consumer Complaint Monitoring System

At this point, more internal to FSIS, we have the Consumer Complaint Monitoring System (CCMS). CCMS is a national surveillance system that records and tracks complaints from consumers, facilitating the identification of possible food hazards and the ensuing investigation.

CCMS is currently being upgraded to allow continuous daily 24/7 coverage and an alert system. It will also include a comprehensive analytical tool that will analyze seemingly unrelated incidents, identify linkages, and trigger an alert of potential threats to food safety and security.

I want to recognize AFDO for their assistance in assembling a workgroup to help FSIS with the design of connecting CCMS to State partners. Your input has been vital in this effort. I know many of you are interested to know where we are in this process. To update you, FSIS is currently finalizing the statement of work. We hope, dependent on appropriations of course, to make awards to pilot States this fall.

FSIS is integrating databases such as CCMS and others within FSIS, and together with a National Biosurveillance Integrations System to use as an early warning system for potential threats to the food supply.

Expanding Interagency Relationships

FSIS is also working more closely with the intelligence and law enforcement communities. One of FSIS' initial actions was to hire Import Surveillance Liaison Officers who are responsible for the Agency's oversight of imported food security issues at ports of entry around the nation, particularly with the Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Furthering this relationship FSIS worked with CBP's National Targeting Center to develop criteria to assist in targeting shipments of FSIS-regulated products which may require heightened inspection by CBP. The criteria include the high-risk products from countries identified as eligible to export to the United States in the import vulnerability assessment.

FSIS is also building relationships with important partners, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency and local law enforcement agencies. FSIS is providing information to these communities on food security concerns for intelligence collection and participating in information-sharing working groups sponsored by these agencies.

State Level Collaboration

To improve federal and state government coordination to prevent and respond to any act of intentional contamination, FSIS entered into a cooperative agreement with the FDA, DHS and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA). This cooperative agreement resulted in development of guidelines and procedures for State and local first responders and Federal food regulatory agencies. The interagency response plan will facilitate cooperation with State and local emergency efforts when responding to incidents involving the food supply.

In the future, FSIS is planning to work with states to coordinate Food Security Exercises. Utilizing our District Field Offices and existing reporting systems, these exercises will assist with identifying vulnerabilities across the farm-to-table continuum. They will also lead to the development of appropriate countermeasures to avoid potential deliberate acts of contamination of meat, poultry and egg products.

Stakeholders and the Agency have a shared responsibility to make sure that each link in the food chain is strong and sharing information is vital for meeting those responsibilities. FSIS also continues to encourage industry, as well as consumers to understand their roles and take the necessary actions to protect the food supply.

Local Level Collaboration

Recently, the Agency published an Industry Self-Assessment Checklist for Food Security. This self-assessment instrument was created to provide a tool for establishments to assess the extent to which they have secured their operations. It is vital that all food slaughter and processing establishments, and all import and export establishments, take steps to ensure the security of their operations.

The final outcome of this self-assessment should provide establishments with a relative measure of overall security of their operations and guide them in the development and/or revision of their food security strategies. This checklist is one of several outreach efforts by FSIS to help assure the security of regulated food products. The checklist is available on our Web site (www.fsis.usda.gov).

Also available on our Web site are four newly developed model food security plans. These model food security plans are designed to assist federal- and state-inspected meat, poultry and egg products establishments, as well as import facilities, develop their own security measures to deter the threat of intentional contamination and similar attacks on the food supply. FSIS is conducting workshops around the country and via web cast this summer to assist small and very small processors in the development of food security plans for their operations. We have found webcasts to be a popular method of increasing small and very small plant participation. We usually have 150 or more participants. The workshops are interactive and participants leave with a basic plan for their operation.

The model food security plans are being issued in the form of guidance documents and are voluntary. However, FSIS believes that every establishment should have a written plan that describes and documents controls to ensure that the premise is secure from potential threats. Consequently, FSIS has included on its regulatory agenda a mandatory rule for the adoption of Food Security Plans by all FSIS inspected establishments.

In response to input from the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI), FSIS is assessing whether voluntary adoption of Food Security Plans at inspected establishments will fulfill the Agency's desire for all establishments to have written food security plans. FSIS expects to begin documenting whether establishments have a written plan and will use this information in determining whether mandatory plans should be required, and how quickly FSIS should pursue rulemaking.

International Collaboration

Finally, FSIS recognizes the importance of working with its partners outside the United States. We have entered into bilateral agreements with Canada and Mexico to share information to secure the food supply. FSIS is interested in developing similar agreements with other major trading partners. The goal is to ensure that safe and secure food keeps moving between the United States and all of its trading partners.

Closing

In summary, it takes cooperation from government, scientist, educators, consumers, industry and many others to protect public health most effectively. This cooperation is necessary when dealing with the complex issues of food safety and food security. Individuals and organizations all have valuable input and a different way of looking at things.

I encourage all of you to examine what you can do to increase food security through your own organizations. As I said earlier, each of us has a role in ensuring a safe and secure food supply. There will always be more we can do, and we must continue our efforts in the months and years to come.

FSIS considers opportunities to address food security together with its stakeholders, such as during this important conference, pivotal for making further advancements.

I thank you for your dedication and efforts, and we look forward to working with AFDO and to your continued contributions in food safety and food security.