By Paul Sundberg
The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) joined with the National Pork Board, National Pork Producers Council, and American Association of Swine Veterinarians to meet with representatives of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in mid-October to discuss screening efforts related to foreign animal disease (FAD) prevention. The meeting between swine industry organizations and CBP was to communicate frustration with an apparent lack of entry controls as evidenced by the self-reporting being sent to SHIC. This process is essential and must be continued to keep up appropriate prevention efforts at our borders to safeguard the health of the US swine herd. CBP was receptive to the concerns and committed to investigating the issue further.
With an average of 4,505 interdictions/seizures per day by CBP of prohibited products, it is clear the risk remains significant. Of those interdictions/seizures, nearly a quarter of the total, 1,130, are meat or meat products. CBP said pork is the third most common item to be discovered, behind apples and bananas.
Over the last year, CBP has refined targeting and analysis to increase their proficiency rate, resulting in a better proportion of seizures to inspections. Additionally, CBP is using algorithms to augment the inspection process of high-risk flights and travelers. There's also a plan to increase canine teams for searches over the next four years. Both personnel and dogs need to go through training to be deployed in this effort. CBP's cardboard signs in airports have been supplemented with running messages on monitors to make it easier to change or modify the messages for travelers, another proactive step for prevention.
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