Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

US food safety under siege?

Nature Biotechnology volume 22, pages 1503–1505 (2004)Cite this article

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

Changes in food production and regulation

The US strategy of protection for the food system, as mapped out in the Homeland Security Presidential Directive/ HSPD-9 of January 30, 2004, presupposes that in striving to protect production, processing, food storage and delivery systems within US territory, a credible line of defense will be created to protect the food chain and encourage a thriving agricultural economy. In fact, US agriculture has undergone dramatic change. For crops, 'farm to fork' no longer is confined to a regionally based agricultural system, but now encompasses a highly integrated and consolidated global undertaking. For livestock, 'hoof to home' now takes on a new meaning that includes a high concentration of production, specialization of calf operations, long distance shipping and massive feedlots averaging thousands of head marketed per facility1, for both domestic and international consumption2. These commercial developments have resulted in previously unimaginable production and handling efficiencies in domestic and export markets3.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Ward, C. & Schroeder, T.C. Structural Changes in Cattle Feeding and Meat Packing. (Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA, 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Gorman, S. National J. 27, 812 (1999).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Martinez, S.W. The US Food Marketing System 2002. Agriculture Economic Report 811, June 2002 (USDA, Economic Research Service, Washington, DC, 2002).

  4. US Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. Survey of Current Business, March 2002 (Bureau of Economic Analysis, Washington, DC, USA, 2002).

  5. US Department of Commerce, International Trade Agency. 2004 Industry Outlook for Processed Foods (International Trade Agency, Washington, DC, USA, 2004).

  6. US General Accounting Office. Highlights of GAO-04-719, May 2004, and Center for Science in the Public Interest. Comments on Interim Final Rule to Implement Prior Notice of Imported Food Under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (US GAO, Washington, DC, USA, December 17, 2003).

  7. Institute for National Strategic Studies and National Defense University. McNair Paper 65. Agricultural Bioterrorism: A Federal Strategy to Meet the Threat (Institute for National Strategic Studies, Fort McNair, Washington, DC, June 2003).

  8. Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs. The 2001 Outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease. Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General. HC 939 2001-2002, 21 June, 2002 (UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, London, 2002).

  9. UK Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy: A Progress Report, June 2002 (UK Department for Environment, Food and Ruraal Affairs. London UK, 2003).

  10. US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Agricultural Outlook, 2001 (USDA, Washington, DC, 2001).

  11. Davis, R.G. Agricultural Bioterrorism (American Institute of Biological Sciences, Washington, DC, USA 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Chalk, P. Hitting America's Soft Underbelly (National Defense Research Institute, Rand Corporation, Washington, DC, USA, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Rovid Spickler, A. & Roth, J.A (eds). Emerging and Exotic Diseases of Animals (Institute for International Cooperation in Animal Biologics/Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA, 2003).

    Google Scholar 

  14. National Science and Technology Council, Committee on Science. Interagency Working Group on Plant Genomics, Office of the President. National Plant Genome Initiative (National Science and Technology Council Executive Secretariat, Washington, DC, USA, 1998)

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. president/CEO of GIC Group, 1434 Duke Street, Alexandria, 22314, VA, USA

    Richard Gilmore

Authors
  1. Richard Gilmore
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gilmore, R. US food safety under siege?. Nat Biotechnol 22, 1503–1505 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1204-1503

Download citation

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1204-1503

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing