010523 U.S. Vigilant on Foot-and-Mouth

Chicago - The Bush administration is doing everything it can to keep foot-and-mouth disease out of the United States and has learned some lessons from Britain's epidemic, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Monday.

In addition to increasing the number of inspection teams at airports to prevent the disease from entering the country, the Agriculture Department also sent some of its own veterinarians to learn from and help control the British outbreak.

“One of the things our vets have come back with is that there was not a strategy in place (in Britain) to deal with an outbreak,” Veneman told state agriculture commissioners gathered at the supermarket industry's trade show.

Foot-and-mouth is harmless to humans but it can devastate a country's livestock industry because infected herds are destroyed to prevent the virus from spreading. The United States has been free of the disease since 1929.

At beginning of the British outbreak, Veneman said she personally appealed to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill for their cooperation.

Veneman said she was concerned that returning troops and military equipment could carry the virus if they weren't careful. O'Neill oversees the Customs Service, which helps USDA monitor arriving airline passengers.

“We're doing quite a lot ... to prevent this disease from coming in,” Veneman said.

The department's top veterinarian, who also briefed the state officials, says the risk of a U.S. outbreak has lessened because of U.S. border controls and the slowing of the British epidemic.

Veneman, who formerly served as California's agriculture secretary, spent about an hour touring the giant food show, sampling products from both small and large food processors. Officials with the Food Marketing Institute said they couldn't recall the last time the agriculture secretary had attended the annual show.

“This trade show really exemplifies the changing food market, what the consumer is looking for,” Veneman said as she stopped by the Hormel Foods pavilion.

Hormel, like other meat processors, has been featuring a number of products that are relatively low in fat or easy to prepare, such as pre-basted roasts, and appeal to health-conscious, time-pressed cooks. One of Veneman's favorites: low-fat bacon made from turkey.

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