Agricultural Inspection

Foreign pests and diseases entering the United States cost an estimated $41 billion annually in lost production and expenses for prevention and control. The Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is responsible for protecting U.S. agriculture by inspecting passengers and cargo entering the country. Since 1990, however, the rapid growth in international trade and travel has dramatically increased the amount of cargo and the number of passengers that the Service must examine. Moreover, policy changes to facilitate trade and customer service have put pressure on the Service to conduct inspections more quickly to speed the flow of passengers and trade. Despite increased funding and added staff, the Service is struggling to keep pace with its increased workload. Heavy workloads have led to shortcuts, which raise questions about inspection efficiency and effectiveness. On a broader scale, the Service's efforts to address its workload problems have been hampered by inadequate information for determining how best to deploy its inspectors. As a result, the Service may not be targeting its limited inspection resources at those ports of entry that are most vulnerable to the introduction of pests and diseases.

GAO noted that: (1) several developments are challenging APHIS' ability to effectively manage its inspection program; (2) key among these is the rapid growth in international trade and travel since 1990, which has dramatically increased the amount of cargo and the number of passengers that inspectors are to examine; (3) in addition, policy changes that emphasize facilitating trade and customer service have put pressure on APHIS to carry out its increased inspection responsibilities more quickly in order to speed the flow of passengers and trade; (4) APHIS has taken several steps to cope with these developments; (5) it increased funding and staffing for inspections by about 78 percent and 44 percent, respectively, from fiscal year (FY) 1990 to 1996; (6) the agency has attempted to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its inspections by: (a) using other inspection techniques in addition to visual inspections, such as x-ray technology and detector dogs, to pinpoint prohibited agricultural products, such as untreated fruits, vegetables, and meats from countries that present a higher risk for pests and diseases; and (b) coordinating with other Federal Inspection Service agencies to maximize inspection activities; (7) APHIS began implementing its results monitoring program in FY 1997 to better understand which ports of entry and commodities pose the highest risks of entry for harmful pests and disease; (8) despite these changes, inspectors at the ports GAO visited are struggling to keep pace with increased workloads; (9) heavy workloads have led to inspection shortcuts, which raise questions about the efficiency and overall effectiveness of these inspections; (10) on a broader scale, APHIS' efforts to address its workload problems are hampered by inadequate information for determining how to best deploy its inspectors; (11) in particular, its current staffing models, mathematical formulas used to help determine inspection staffing needs, are not based on reliable information and do not incorporate risk assessment factors similar to those being developed in its results monitoring program; and (12) consequently, APHIS has little assurance that it is deploying its limited inspection resources at the nation's ports of entry that are most vulnerable to the introduction of pests and diseases.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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