News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Although no successful attacks on the US agriculture and food system have been reported in the past decade, the nation's efforts to defend the system came in for a barrage of criticism yesterday about a lack of coordination and various other shortcomings.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) today proposed a new system to improve the tracing of diseased and at-risk livestock, aiming to replace a previous national animal identification program that met widespread opposition from livestock producers.

(CIDRAP News) – As the clock ticked toward a possible US government shutdown at midnight, federal officials said today that key activities to keep food safe and otherwise control infectious diseases would continue, albeit at reduced levels in many cases.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture is proposing a big increase in spending to protect the US food and agriculture system from terrorist threats and other disasters in fiscal year 2009, while seeking somewhat less money for avian influenza.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released a new software tool to make it easier and quicker for food industry facilities to assess their risk of attacks involving biological, chemical, or radiological weapons.

(CIDRAP News) – The head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced the creation of a new assistant commissioner position to provide guidance on food safety and defense strategies.

(CIDRAP News) – Three federal agencies have signed a cooperative agreement with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) to improve integration of state-federal responses to food and agricultural emergencies.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) along with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) signed the agreement on Sep 23.