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To prevent such a catastrophe, federal and state officials have been working with farmers to improve safeguards and emergency plans.
Matt Mathison is helping lead the effort as chairman of the Wisconsin Agro-Security Resource Network and a member of the FBI Agro-Security Team of Wisconsin.
The 55-year-old Wiscon-sin native describes himself as a city kid whose father grew up on a dairy farm. He studied microbiology and worked as an ingredients supplier to the dairy industry before going to work for the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board 11 years ago.
He now lives in the town of Verona, west of Madison, and works full-time as the board’s vice president of technical services.
AP: When you hear the term agro-security, it sounds like terrorists are bombing farms. What does it really mean and what kind of issues does the FBI team deal with?
Mathison: Agro-security deals with protecting the food coming off the farm. So there could be microbiological issues with the food, there could be animal health issues. So the team looks at the various risks and then puts together prevention and mitigation strategies to help ensure the safety of the food supply in Wisconsin and in the U.S.
AP: Have the risks increased since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks?
Mathison: The risks possibly have increased since then. There’s heightened awareness, but certain animal-borne diseases, such as foot-and-mouth: If you remember back to February and March of 2001, the U.K. was battling a foot-and-mouth epidemic six months prior to 9-11-01 in the U.S.
AP: What do agro-security experts consider the greatest threats right now?
Mathison: I think we can look at two different sets of risks. The first one is the public health or human illness perspective, and we’ve seen some of that on the food safety side with E. coli in produce. And also, we can look at what we call infrastructure disruption. That would be some animal health issues that don’t impact humans, but really make a disruption of the food system and create potential problems in providing food to the public.
AP: Would foot-and-mouth disease be a primary example of that?
Mathison: Yes. It is not a human health issue, but the ability to get the outbreak under control requires stop movement of animals and animal products, such as milk and cheese, and thereby would disrupt the flow of products from the farm to the plants to the retail markets.
AP: Are the issues in Wisconsin different from those in other states?
Mathison: The issues across the U.S. are the same. The difference in Wisconsin — we probably have more complexity because we have the largest number of dairy farms and the largest number of processing plants. On a daily basis, 67 million pounds of raw milk moves across the state.
AP: You just spoke to farmers at the World Dairy Expo in Madison. Do dairy farmers in particular have anything they should be looking out for?
Mathison: Dairy producers should be aware of who is on their farm on a daily basis. So, they should know who comes on their farm, who belongs there, and they should also make sure all of their employees understand who proper visitors would be and who unauthorized visitors would be.
AP: Would the same be true of other livestock farmers?
Mathison: Yes.
AP: Can you describe some of the steps being taken to make sure Wisconsin’s and the nation’s food supply is safe?
Mathison: There are steps being taken at all levels of the government, starting with the Department of Homeland Security and through USDA and FDA, all the way down to the states and the local communities. The dairy industry in particular, both through the National Dairy Management Inc. and the state organizations such as the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board are educating producers and processors in food security, food defense programs.
AP: During your talk, you mentioned a few things the farmers need to do, such as register their livestock. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Mathison: When we talk about an on-farm or a dairy plant defense program, we look at controlling the environment — such things as visitor logs, making sure that anyone entering a dairy farm or dairy plant logs in so that we know who’s on the premises. Also, good record keeping. Making sure that the feed supplies and other inputs that come to the farm or the plant are recorded and then all of the outputs, the raw milk or the cheese or anything else leaving the plant or the farm, the records are there so there could be a quick trace of any supplies or products.
AP: There’s a lot of interest in buying locally grown foods right now. Are foods grown in the U.S. safer than those grown overseas? Or produced?
Mathison: The U.S. food supply is highly regulated and very inspection-oriented. We know that has created a very safe food supply historically, and continues. The food grown outside the country has varying levels of regulatory and inspection oversight. There is some inspection at the border as it comes in, but that food supply may not be held to the same inspection and regulatory standard as the U.S. products.
AP: As a consumer, should I be worried about the safety of my food?
Mathison: The U.S. food supply is the safest, has the highest quality and has the most variety of any food supply in the world. The average consumer pays less than 10 cents on the dollar for the greatest and most variety of food — and I enjoy food myself. I believe the total food supply is very safe, and consumers can be confident in what not only the industry itself is doing but the government agencies that ensure the safety and quality of our U.S. food supply.
