On July 8, 2020, APHIS made an initial purchase of a vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease. “This purchase will significantly enhance the number of vaccine doses already available to the U.S. through the North American Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine Bank, providing critical support for the U.S. livestock industry,” said the spokesperson.
Going forward, other issues may move toward legislative consideration, given the stresses on the food supply chain and industry during COVID-19. Becca Jablonski, PhD, assistant professor of food systems extension economics in the department of agriculture and resource economics at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, thinks there will be more discussion about the trade-offs in food manufacturing and processing between efficiency and resilience. “We have favored efficient systems in our policies that have led to more consolidation in our food processing and manufacturing sectors in the U.S.,” she says, adding that the policies make sense, given the desire to provide affordable food products of consistent quantity and quality.
However, citing major disruptions to the food supply chain with, for example, the closure of meat packing plants during COVID-19 that led to reduced access to products, she thinks more people will be looking at whether policies that support small and mid-sized plants that can pivot more quickly in a time of emergency or disaster make more sense. Important considerations will need to be made about the implications of such policies on product pricing, which, she emphasizes, has major food security implications. “I think what is going to happen now, particularly with a Biden administration, is more discussion around these issues,” she says.
Regulatory Programs That Address U.S. Food Insecurity
2018 Farm Bill—This legislation includes three programs to support animal disease prevention and management:
- National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program
- National Animal Health Laboratory Network
- National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank
2019 Protecting America’s Food and Agricultural Act—This increases resources directed to U.S. Customs and Borders Protection to help prevent the introduction of pathogens, biological threats, and agricultural goods.
National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) —This facility, which his under development in Kansas, will house diagnostic equipment and possess training capabilities to help protect agriculture, farmers, and the public against emerging, zoonotic, and foreign animal diseases.
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