Government beefing The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced yesterday that additional federal meat and poultry inspectors will be stationed in Honolulu and other major port cities across the country to boost homeland security and prevent intentional contamination of imported foods.
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Steven Cohen, a USDA spokesman in Washington, said Honolulu will receive a specially trained inspector in March.
Cohen declined to describe the training or the potential for contamination other than to say that the agency has been identifying "threats and vulnerabilities to the food supply system and then we've tried to respond to them."
Elsa Murano, food-safety division chief at the U.S Department of Agriculture, said the inspectors will conduct surveillance at import facilities to ensure that no questionable meat products enter the country. They also will review foreign health certificates and receiving and shipping records.
The work will benefit homeland security by serving as another safeguard against intentional food contamination, she said.
"I think it's just common knowledge that after Sept. 11th and the way we were attacked, it really behooves us not to let any stone unturned," Murano said. "This new program is an added line of defense for America's meat and poultry supply."
Last year, 3.4 billion pounds of meat and poultry were imported from 26 countries into the United States. It could not be determined yesterday how many pounds of meat are imported through Honolulu each year.
Cohen said current inspectors are confined to the 146 import houses in port cities and that the new inspectors will have free rein of the docks. An additional 7,600 inspectors oversee packing and processing plants across the nation.
"This gives us more flexibility, having an employee who is not tied to a facility,'' said Cohen.
Import inspectors have already been stationed in the ports of Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and Elizabeth, N.J.
In addition to Honolulu, the following cities will have import inspectors by March: Baltimore; Buffalo, N.Y.; Champlain, N.Y.; Chicago; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Laredo, Texas; New Orleans; Oakland, Calif.; Philadelphia; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Seattle; and Sweetgrass, Mont.
U.S. Department of Agriculture