After Action Report: Operation Empire State, November 16, 2006. Food Safety and Inspection Service

摘要

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is actively addressing the need to maintain the safety and defense of the countrys food supply. During a crisis, it is critical that the Department be able to efficiently and effectively coordinate with its counterparts at the state and local level, as well as within other Federal agencies and the private sector. On November16, 2006, USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) conducted Operation Empire State in Albany, NY and at FSIS headquarters in Washington, DC. The Operation Empire State Exercise focused on the roles of Federal, state, and local government agencies and the food industry to work together to detect, respond to, and recover from a non-routine emergency incident. Emphasis was placed on a team approach to incident response, coordination, integration of capabilities, problem identification, and resolution through preparation, response, recovery, and multi-agency coordination. The exercise offered FSIS the opportunity to test and validate operating guidelines and directives for responding to a non-routine incident involving the intentional adulteration of food products within an FSIS inspected facility. The ultimate goals were: Minimizing suffering, loss of life, and personal injury; Minimizing damage to property; and Minimizing disaster- or emergency-related service disruption, which would have an adverse impact on the government, the communities, and the businesses and their employees, reputation, and product brand names This report identifies areas of strength and weakness that were observed during the exercise and offers recommendations for improvement.