FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UPDATES EARLIER INFORMATION
March 21, 2003
Contact: Mark Anthony, ODA Communications, 614-752-9817
REYNOLDSBURG – Ohio
Agriculture Director Fred L. Dailey this week issued new government directives
to his department’s food and livestock inspectors, sent new
security-precaution guidelines to the state’s food and agriculture industry,
and urged operators of Ohio’s farms, food processing plants, and other
agribusinesses to take “concrete steps” to enhance their security in light
of the upgraded federal and state terrorism threat level announced earlier this
week, he said today.
Although there has been no
reported threat against agriculture or the food supply, both could still be
vulnerable to sabotage by terrorists, he said. “Federal and state agriculture
and food officials, including the Ohio Department of Agriculture, are taking all
appropriate actions to protect our food supply and agricultural production from
terrorism, but we also need the active participation of industry,” Dailey
said.
He added: “Businesses need to
study the latest federal guidelines for food and agriculture security -- some of
them revised and reissued this week -- and take concrete steps to protect their
operations from sabotage. We will continue to be a resource to businesses on
this subject even as we intensify our own regulatory monitoring for dangerous
animal diseases and food contamination.”
Dailey’s comments followed a
50-state conference call this afternoon among USDA officials and state-level
agriculture directors, commissioners, and secretaries, who discussed key federal
and state measures taken since early this week. Governor Bob Taft announced on
Tuesday that Ohio's terror threat level had been upgraded from yellow
("elevated") to orange ("high”) on Monday night in conjunction
with Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge's identical action on the national
level.
The U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, USDA, and FDA said this week they are taking more aggressive steps to
inspect imported food and advised state agriculture officials and agriculture
and food industry leaders nationwide to take extra precautions against possible
sabotage.
The Ohio Department of
Agriculture this week forwarded the latest federal directives from FDA and USDA
to all of its animal disease and food safety inspectors, including local health
departments. The department instructed inspectors to be alert for unusual
incidents or signs as they inspect feedlots, food warehouses, meat and poultry
processing plants, retail food stores, and other businesses the department
scrutinizes under the state’s food safety and animal and plant disease laws.
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The department also forwarded
federal guidelines, including some newly revised and reissued this week,
directly to the food and agriculture industry. The department advised them of
resources available from ODA, FDA, and USDA to help them upgrade their security
if needed. Also, the department increased security at its administrative
buildings and laboratories and conferred with emergency response planners at
other state agencies on security issues.
Dailey urged citizens to call
the department toll-free at 1-800-300-9755 if they see signs of suspicious
illness in animals, or call 1-800-282-1955 toll-free if they are suspicious of
food tampering. ODA’s Consumer Analytical Laboratory will test suspect food
products. He also reiterated a series of concrete steps that agricultural
producers and processors should take to better guard their premises and products
against harm. His advice:
· Producers and processors should take physical security measures such as inspecting all visitor vehicles and escorting all visitors to their facilities.
· Livestock and poultry producers should keep unauthorized visitors out of animal production facilities to help prevent the spread of animal diseases, whether there is a disease threat or not. Authorized persons should be required to wear protective clothing and shoes before entering a facility.
· Livestock and poultry producers and veterinarians should be alert for signs of infectious foreign animal diseases, check their animals daily for symptoms, and report suspicious symptoms to ODA by calling 1-800-300-9755 toll-free.
· Fertilizer dealers should report suspicious purchases of or attempts to purchase ammonium nitrate or urea to the FBI. Fertilizer and pesticide dealers should keep their goods well secured and inventoried.
· Anhydrous ammonia tanks, including nurse tanks, must be secured.
·
All agribusinesses and food establishments should conduct background
checks on employees, pay close attention to product inventories and shipments,
and report all suspicious activities, vehicles, or persons around their
property.
Dailey noted the state
agriculture department has undertaken a number of long-range measures since
September 2001 to better safeguard the state’s agriculture industry and food
supply against possible terrorist attack, including:
· Training emergency first-responders in farm biosecurity and disinfection measures.
· Increasing plant and animal disease surveillance using new federal homeland security funding.
· Consulting personally with food processors and distributors on how to upgrade premise security.
·
Joining an FDA-organized network of food safety laboratories to help
respond to agriterrorism threats.
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For
more information on food and agriculture biosecurity and agriterrorism
preparedness, link to these Internet sites:
Ohio Department of Agriculture