Agricultural Inspection: Improvements Needed to Minimize Threat of Foreign Pests and Diseases
RCED-97-102
Published: May 05, 1997. Publicly Released: May 05, 1997.
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Highlights
GAO reviewed the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS) efforts to minimize the risks to agriculture from pests and diseases entering the United States, focusing on: (1) recent developments that could challenge the ability of APHIS' Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection program to carry out its mission; (2) APHIS' efforts to cope with these developments; and (3) the effectiveness of the inspection program in keeping pace with workload changes.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Agriculture | To better ensure that APHIS identifies harmful pests and diseases through the inspections that it conducts, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Administrator, APHIS, to issue guidance that emphasizes the need for APHIS inspectors to adhere to minimum inspection standards in terms of the methods used to select samples from shipments chosen for inspection. |
APHIS field personnel, with input and guidance from regional and headquarters staff, have comprehensively evaluated their inspection protocols to ensure that they are uniform and consistent with national inspection policy. Data collected by APHIS' Agricultural Quarantine Inspection monitoring program has provided information on the relative risk associated with the entry of passengers and commodities into the United States.
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| Department of Agriculture | To strengthen APHIS' ability to allocate its inspection resources more effectively and efficiently, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Administrator, APHIS, to develop and implement plans that will improve the reliability of data in the Workload Accomplishment Data System. |
APHIS has established national standards for uniform and consistent data collection. Also, each APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine region established an Agricultural Quarantine Inspection (AQI) specialist position to conduct program analysis and risk assessment. Program analyses performed by AQI specialists have enhanced the reliability of data in the Workload Accomplishment Data System. Additionally, ports of entry have established local management teams to improve the accuracy of Workload Accomplishment Data System.
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| Department of Agriculture | To strengthen APHIS' ability to allocate its inspection resources more effectively and efficiently, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Administrator, APHIS, to develop and implement plans that will integrate a risk assessment factor, developed on the basis of the results monitoring program, into its staffing allocation process. |
APHIS has established local risk management teams at ports of entry to conduct local risk assessments and recommend options to manage risks identified. APHIS also incorporated risk factors into its port specific staffing models. These models, which are reviewed and adjusted annually, forecast staffing needs. Statistics from the Agricultural Quarantine Inspection results monitoring pilot project and the AQI results monitoring operations help to ensure that all levels of pest and plant quarantine have reliable data for making inspection level and staffing decisions.
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| Department of Agriculture | To strengthen APHIS' ability to allocate its inspection resources more effectively and efficiently, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Administrator, APHIS, to develop and implement plans that will position APHIS to evaluate inspection resources in terms of national rather than regional needs. |
To focus more on a national basis, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service established national operational standards and has decided to consolidate the four Pest and Plant Quarantine regions into two regions. The agency expects that this will contribute significantly toward achieving national consistency and believes that recent improvements in the Workload Accomplishment Data System and the Agricultural Quarantine Inspection results monitoring will increase its ability to quantify risk and therefore devote resources more on a national basis.
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Topics
Agricultural pestsAgricultural productsForeign trade policiesStaff utilizationImport regulationInspectionInteragency relationsInternational trade restrictionPest controlPlant diseases