CBP Efforts to Guard Against Foreign Animal Disease Applauded

The Swine Health Information Center is applauding the efforts being taken by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in helping keep foreign animal diseases out of the United States

by Bruce Cochrane FarmScape Online

The Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection, in cooperation with USDA, have stepped up efforts to keep foreign animal disease out of the U.S. and the Swine Health Information Center has assisted by monitoring those efforts.

Swine Health Information Center Executive Director Dr. Paul Sundberg says Customs and Border Protection have been extremely cooperative.

“They’re really the first barrier to the import of foreign animal diseases into the U.S. through things like sandwiches or illegal products”

 

“They’ve been very open and they’ve asked us to help them to continue to monitor their success.”

“One of the things we’re doing is we’re collecting information from people that don’t go through a secondary inspection at an airport or a port of entry.

“When they say they’ve been on a farm and a border protection agent sends them right on through, we’re asking for the traveler to let us know that has happened.

“CBP is interested in that because they use that both for information and for training to make sure that they understand the importance of what’s going on and also to let them know that people are watching.

“They’re really the first barrier to the import of foreign animal diseases into the U.S. through things like sandwiches or illegal products, whether they be pork or whether they be insect or anything else.

“They are protecting U.S. agriculture so it’s a really important first defense for in general and for our interest with African Swine Fever and Foot and Mouth, Classical Swine Fever, as well to prevent those viruses from getting into the country through those types of entry points.”

Dr. Sundberg encourages anyone returning to the U.S. or Canada who has reported having been on a farm in a foreign country, and has not been diverted through secondary screening, to alert the Swine Health Information Center. That information will be forwarded for use in training and will go a long way toward hardening borders.

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