Biosecurity “at the speed of commerce”

USDA Under Secretary Bruce Knight (left) and MAF Director-General
Murray Sherwin at the Biosecurity Summit.

New technologies would play a major role in enhancing biosecurity and facilitating safe trade, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary Bruce Knight told delegates at the 2008 New Zealand Biosecurity Summit in Christchurch last month.

“Of all the aspects of biosecurity that I work on, I have one litmus test: decisions on biosecurity have to work at the speed of commerce,” he said.

The growing number of free trade agreements, and the queue of countries that want access to United States markets, “means we are buried under a flood of requests for access” where, traditionally, access rules have been “one commodity, one country at a time.”

Mr Knight said the recent revision of Quarantine 56 (“Q56”) regulations restricting fruit and vegetable imports into the United States had streamlined the process for commercial fruit and vegetable consignments, with risks mitigated by one or more of five designated phytosanitary measures. (Approval for any new fruits or vegetables still requires completing the full US process.)

The United States was making its system more transparent, and would launch a searchable web-based system for people wanting to see market access rules. It was also revising Quarantine 37 (“Q37”) regulations in relation to plants, and expected to move a little closer to the New Zealand system.

Animal identification

Mr Knight said individual animal identification was one of the most important technological applications possible for biosecurity. The United States was collaborating closely on this with both Canada and Mexico.

The goal was to create an up-to-date response system to protect both animal health and farmers’ livelihoods by significantly reducing investigation time, leading to improved control and eradication. Animal premises registration was the highest priority, with more than 488,000 of over a million premises registered so far. The next step would be to move on to individual animal identification and tracing.

He said US authorities would be able to trace animal movements more quickly in future. Twenty-four identification devices had been officially approved for use, and technology had been developed to merge 17 databases into one, with Google mapping software overlaid.

Other new technologies

Mr Knight emphasised the importance of reducing biosecurity risks while goods were still offshore, which would allow faster release of products once they arrived in the United States.

For example, he said irradiation was an extremely effective method of pest mitigation without compromising food quality, and was quietly gaining consumer acceptance. He expected it would be used more widely, particularly for high-value products. The method was tremendously significant for developing countries because they could have just one pre-export processing facility at the border.

The United States now accepted irradiated mangoes from India, pineapples from Thailand and dragon fruit from Vietnam, for example, and was talking with Mexico about building a plant at the border.

Other new technologies being developed, often adapted from traditional defence use, included:

• sniffer technology – to work like sniffer dogs;
• enhanced molecular diagnostics – being able to quickly and remotely identify different species, such as immature fruit flies, and where they came from;
• remote sensing insect traps to work like a fingerprint from wing beats.

NZ–US partnership

Mr Knight said there was a long legacy of steadfast New Zealand–United States partnership on biosecurity, and he was confident that the direct bilateral relationship would remain close, even under difficult circumstances.

The lifting after just seven weeks of the US decision in September to suspend flower imports from New Zealand demonstrated the calibre of our trade relationship and the long-term relationship with New Zealand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF).

(New Zealand’s cut flower and foliage exports to the United States, worth around $12 million a year, were suspended following the interception of a Light Brown Apple Moth in a flower consignment. The suspension was first lifted for hot/greenhouse product, then for field-grown cut flowers and greenery from 1 November.)

Mr Knight also spoke about the US’s relationship with Canada, and the importance of looking at biosecurity as a “North American perimeter approach.” He said both countries were now seeing success in this harmonisation strategy.

“The one thing I’ve learned is that when one nation in the trade community improves its biosecurity, all its trade partners benefit,” he said.

Mr Knight said that, after just two days in New Zealand, he could see the commitment to and importance of biosecurity to the country – beginning with being greeted by a beagle at the airport, who rapidly nosed out that he normally carried his lunch to work in his bag in Washington!

He paid special tribute to MAF Biosecurity New Zealand (MAFBNZ) Deputy Director-General Barry O’Neil for his leadership in the role of President of the Administration Commission with the Office International des Epizooties (OIE – World Organisation for Animal Health).

• Bruce Knight was a keynote speaker at the 2008 Biosecurity Summit. He is USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs. Confirmed by the Senate on 6 August 2006, Mr Knight provides leadership and oversight for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Agricultural Marketing Service and the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration. These agencies protect animals and plants and promote fair, open and orderly markets for US agricultural products. Mr Knight joined the USDA after many years helping develop agricultural policies and programmes, both as a congressional staff member and on behalf of major agricultural producer groups. A third-generation rancher, farmer and lifelong conservationist, Mr Knight grew up on a small farm near the Gann Valley, South Dakota, where he owns a diversified grain and cattle operation using no-till and rest rotation grazing systems.

Page last updated: 12 January 2009