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MDARD outlines food-safety work, describes avian influenza response and public-data limits
Summary
Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development officials told a House appropriations subcommittee they prioritize preventing contamination and animal disease spread, described recent avian influenza activity and cited legal limits on location-level public disclosure of detections.
LANSING — Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development officials told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development and the Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday that the agency’s Bureau of Food Safety and Animal Health focuses on preventing foodborne illness, responding to animal-disease outbreaks and preserving market access for Michigan producers.
The agency described recent work on two large highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks in the past 12 months, retail sampling that removed suspect products from shelves, and routine inspections and training for local health departments, officials said.
Tim Slowinski, director of MDARD’s Bureau of Food Safety and Animal Health, said the bureau responds to outbreaks to contain virus spread and help affected operations recover. "We’ve had, not 2 years, the last 12 months, we’ve had 2 very large outbreaks," Slowinski said. He added that the bureau works with affected facilities "to get them on a track to…
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