ODA reports reduced inspection backlogs, high-path avian influenza testing, and realignment savings in informational hearing

Deputy directors and division leaders from the Oregon Department of Agriculture told the Joint Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Natural Resources March 25 that the agency has reduced COVID-era inspection backlogs, is performing expanded disease surveillance, and has realigned field inspection work to increase efficiency.

Rusty Rock, division director for Food Safety, Animal Health and Lab Services, said ODA inspects about 12,000 licensed facilities statewide with 38 inspectors. He told the committee that after COVID the agency had roughly 5,000 overdue inspections (defined as more than 90 days past expected), and staff have completed about 60–65% of that backlog by focusing on older and higher-risk facilities.

Rock described the agency’s regulatory divisions and their scope: food manufacturing and distribution, dairy and shellfish, pet-food and edible cannabis testing, the new state meat inspection program, animal disease control and emergency response, and a regulatory lab that supports enforcement actions. On disease surveillance, Rock said ODA handled about 81 disease calls in 2020 but has seen more than 311 disease calls in the current…