Transcript Innovative Food Security Initiatives

Innovative Food Defense
Initiatives
North Carolina Department of Agriculture &
Consumer Services
Joseph Reardon
Food Administrator
Food and Drug Protection Division
Importance of Food Defense
• The former Secretary of Health and Human
Services Tommy Thompson said,
“For the life of me, I cannot understand
why the terrorists have not attacked our
food supply because it is so easy to do.”
Food Safety
=
Food Defense
Food Safety and Defense
Task Force
• Developed in 2001 including key state
agencies, industry, and academia
Supported by Governor Executive Order
– Co-chaired by NCDA&CS and Department of
Health and Human Services
– Coordinated approach to identify
vulnerabilities and safeguard food supply
• Developed Emergency Programs Division
Multi-Hazard Threat Database
• Rapid Response
– Fast access to information
– Strong visual and analytical capabilities
• Risk Assessment
– Estimate rates of spread or progression
– Establish specific mitigation/protection
plans
Benefits of Utilizing GIS
Multi-Hazard Database (MHDB)
• Improved Management Capabilities
– Real-time management of incident
– Determine and locate required resources
– Improve planning/response capabilities
– Facilitate develop recovery plans
– Available for federal response needs
Emergency Notification
Capabilities of GIS-MHDB
Incident Command Teams
• Food and Drug Incident
Management Teams
Goal: Establish basic response
skills
• Incident action plan
• Situational Report
• Task Tracker
• Public Information (JIC)
“Highwater” Exercise
• ICS Teams must resolve injects:
– Employee availability
– Farmers requesting on-site visits for
embargoes
– Wrecks involving transporting of food
– Complaint calls from citizens
– Retailers selling adulterated food
• Exercise identified gaps in preparedness
policy and needed resources
Future Initiative
• Food Defense
– Food defense must be conducted at the
state level
• State should pilot specific plans
– Develop relationships with other state
government agencies, federal agencies,
and industry for data sharing
– Identify food and agriculture vulnerabilities
• Link data to GIS and MHTD
Conclusion
• ODP funding requires shift from population
based to agriculture based
• Federal funding needed on multi-year basis
for state programs
– Over 80% of food security work including
inspections, investigation of complaints, and
enforcement actions performed at state and
local level
– Direct financial support required for state
departments and laboratories responsible for