Title III - Protecting the Safety and Security of the Food Supply

General Provisions

Overall, the bill provides a total of about $4.6 billion for bioterrorism preparedness. It covers everything from public health preparedness and improvements, to enhancing controls on deadly biological agents, to protecting food, drug, and drinking water supplies.

Title I creates a new emergency state bioterrorism preparedness block grant program funded at a total of $1.5 billion, primarily to assist states in achieving minimum levels of preparedness, such as training and planning for public health and safety, enhance laboratory capacity, educate and train health care personnel, and to develop new drugs, therapies, and vaccines.

Title II addresses regulation and controls on dangerous biological agents and toxins, including those that present a threat to plant or animal health, or animal or plant products. USDA would be given new authority to regulate such agents and new criminal penalties are established for enforcement.

Title III specifically addresses food security and agriculture and provides a total of $545 million for FDA and USDA to hire hundreds of new inspectors at borders, develop new methods to detect contaminated foods, work with state food safety regulators, and to protect crops and livestock.

Title IV provides $100 million for development of vulnerability and emergency response plans for drinking water systems.

Following are details of Title II: Enhancing Controls on Dangerous Biological Agents & Toxins:

• Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish and maintain a list of each biological agent and each toxin that the Secretary determines has the potential to pose a severe threat to animal or plant health, or to animal or plant products. Establishes criteria for list inclusion and list review. Sets forth provisions for the regulation of: (1) transfers of listed agents and toxins; (2) possession and use of listed agents and toxins; (3) registration, identification, and maintenance of database of listed toxins; and (4) security and safeguard of persons possessing, using, or transferring a listed agent. Requires the identifying information of registered persons to be submitted to the Attorney General and requires the Attorney General to promptly determine if any of the persons are within any specified criminal, immigration, national security, or other categories. Sets forth procedures concerning: (1) process regarding persons seeking to register; and (2) administrative review. Requires prompt notification of the Secretary, and appropriate Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies, of the theft or loss of listed agents and toxins. There are exemptions concerning clinical and diagnostic laboratories, products, investigational use, agricultural emergencies, and public health emergencies.

• Amends Federal criminal code provisions concerning the possession of listed biological agents and toxins to provide that whoever: (1) transfers a select agent to a person who the transferor knows or has reasonable cause to believe is not registered as required shall be fined, or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both; and (2) knowingly possesses a biological agent or toxin where such agent or toxin is a select agent for which such person has not obtained a required registration shall be fined, or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.

Following are the details of Title III Food and Agriculture Security provisions:

• Expands the scope of consultation between the President’s Council on Food Safety and other entities (including consultation with food industry, consumer and producer groups, and states) and law enforcement and intelligence agencies. It also expands the scope of food safety and security strategy to address technologies, threat assessments, risk communication, and procedures for securing food processing and manufacturing facilities and modes of transportation. The bill authorizes $750,000 to implement the strategy.

• Directs USDA to improve linkages with other federal regulatory agencies that share responsibility for food safety, including improved linkages with states. The bill intends that USDA will make improvements to the information management systems that support food safety inspection programs, including the OASIS system, assistance on food import shipments, and improved tests for rapidly detecting adulterated foods. USDA is to give priority to increasing the number of inspections to detect intentional adulteration of foods. Provides $100 million for these activities.

Expansion of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Activities:

• Provides $10 million for grants to states for increased food safety inspections, examinations, investigations, and related activities, and to assist states in taking appropriate actions to respond to any federal notice received to take remedial action.

• Provides $19.5 million for grants to states to increase participation in Pulsenet, the Food borne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, and other networks to enhance federal, state and local food safety efforts.

• Gives FDA new authority to assure the safety and security of the food supply. Expanded authority includes: administrative detention of foods; debarment for repeated or serious food import violations; requires maintenance and inspection of records with exemption for farms and restaurants; requires any facility in manufacturing, processing or handling food for consumption to register with FDA (farms, restaurants, other retail establishments, and non-profit food establishments in which food is prepared for, or severed directly to consumers, are exempted); and requires prior notice for imported food shipments.

Expansion of Animal & Plant Health Inspection (APHIS) Activities:

• Requires USDA to enhance and expand APHIS capacity to protect against the threat of bioterrorism. Increases inspection capacity internationally, improved surveillance at ports of entry, and enhanced protections against terrorist use of plant and animal disease organisms.

• Directs APHIS to implement a central automated record-keeping system to track the status of animal and plant shipments, including those shipments on hold at ports of entry and customs.

• USDA is directed to develop new strategies and technologies for dealing with intentional outbreaks of plant/animal disease from acts of terrorism, or from unintentional introduction, including (a) establishing cooperative agreements among Veterinary Services of APHIS, state animal health commissions and regulatory agencies for livestock and poultry health, and private veterinary practitioners to respond to outbreaks; and (b) strengthening planning and coordination with state and local agencies, including state agriculture departments.

• Authorizes $30 million for these activities in FY02.

Expansion of Food Safety Inspection Services (FSIS) Activities:

• Provides $15 million to generally expand and enhance inspection activities, including international meat, poultry, and egg products at points of origin and ports of entry. Also directs USDA to give priority to strengthening the ability of FSIS to collaborate with relevent USDA agencies and with other entities in federal and state government through the sharing of information and technology.

Research & Training to Enhance Food Security:

• Provides $180 million to update, renovate, and expand USDA laboratory and research facilities at Plum Island Animal Disease Center and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and APHIS facility in Ames, Iowa, and for similar improvements at USDA facilities in Athens, Georgia, and in Laramie, Wyoming.

• Requires USDA to establish minimum security standards and award grants up to $50,000 to land grant universities to assess security needs and plan upgrades.

• Authorizes USDA to award grants up to $100,000 per association, to associations of food producers or consortia of such associations, for the development and implementation of educational programs to improve biosecurity on farms against bioterrorist attacks.

• Provides $190 million for USDA to utilize existing research and programs to protect the nation’s food supply by conducting various research activities, including developing new and continuing partnerships with higher education institutions and others to establish and enhance biosecurity and food safety programs, with special emphasis on vulnerability analyses, incident response, detection and prevention technologies. Authorizes USDA to continue research to develop improved rapid detection field test kits to detect biological threats to plants and animals for use in responding to bioterrorism, and to develop an agricultural bioterrorism early warning surveillance system by enhancing the capacity of and coordination between state veterinary diagnostic laboratories, federal and state agricultural research facilities, and public health agencies.

Agricultural Biosecurity Education:

The original Senate bill (S. 1675) earmarked $20 million in FY02 for the following agricultural biosecurity education initiatives. These specific proposals were deleted from the final legislation, or were merged with other general food security activities. However, these ideas could be reconsidered in future, separate legislation/appropriations bills.

• Industry On-Farm Education. Directed USDA to develop and implement a program to provide education relating to farms, livestock confinement operations, and livestock auction biosecurity to prevent intentional or accidental introduction of foreign disease.

• USDA directed to develop an education program on quarantine and testing to help farmers monitor.

• USDA directed to develop guidelines/educational materials for distribution to local crop producers and facilities that handle, process or transport crops.

• Biosecurity of Food Manufacturing, Processing, and Distribution. HHS directed to award grants/contracts/cooperative agreements to help food industry and other entities develop and implement education programs to ensure security of facilities and modes of transportation.