It can do a lot of harm if that fruit or sausage link has a hitchhiker in the form of a harmful pest or a plant or animal disease organism.

The people responsible for making sure those hitchhikers don't make it into the United States are the agriculture inspectors located at most U.S. ports of entry. These inspectors look at passenger luggage and commercial cargo coming into international airports, seaports, and border crossings in order to stop the introduction of exotic or foreign plant and animal pests or diseases.

The Agricultural Inspection Program has been around a long time, but most Americans still don't appreciate the critical role its policies and employees play in safeguarding American agriculture and the nation's economy. The mission of agricultural inspection is "to protect American agriculture and natural resources from the damage that comes from the entry and spread of animal and plant pests and noxious weeds." Until March 1, 2003, agricultural inspection services fell under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as part of Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ).

The past...
In colonial times, the British government encouraged farmers to produce crops, such as sugarcane and indigo, that were not native to the colonies to reduce England's dependence on foreign sources. After independence, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, along with others who traveled abroad, brought plant material such as olive trees and rice, back to the United States to develop U.S. agricultural production and to continue to increase the variety of crops available for cultivation. Jefferson noted that, "The greatest service which can be rendered to any country, is to add a useful plant to its culture." In addition to all the new plants brought into this country in the 17th and 18th centuries, all domestic livestock except the native turkey entered the United States.

1836
The Commissioner of Patents began to distribute seeds and plants of foreign-origin to farmers throughout the country believing this would improve the variety and quality of plants in America. This continued to increase the number and variety of plants that were not native to the United States.

1862
The U.S. Department of Agriculture was created to "procure, propagate, and distribute among the people new and valuable seeds and plants." The new department established relationships with consular offices abroad and continued to obtain rare and valuable bulbs, seeds, vines, and cuttings from foreign sources. Along with these new, experimental plants introduced into the country came new pests and diseases.

1912
The Plant Quarantine Act was passed to address building concern over pest outbreaks in nursery stock in the United States. It allowed the USDA to declare quarantines. At this time the U.S. was the only remaining major country without protection against the importation of infested plants. In reaction to this growing concern, the USDA established several plant regulatory programs.

1928
The Plant Quarantine and Control Administration was established, bringing exclusion (safeguarding) and plant health programs under one federal umbrella.

A sign adjacent to the plant quarantine station alerting travelers of the restrictions on bringing plants, fruits, and vegetables from Mexico into the United States, circa 1937. Photo Credit: Dorothea Lange, courtesy of the Library of Congress

Individual officials inspect parcels at an agriculture plant quarantine station in El Paso, Tex., circa 1937. Photo Credit: Dorothea Lange, courtesy of the Library of Congress

1953
USDA was restructured to transfer the Plant Quarantine and Bureau of Entomology functions to the Agricultural Research Service, where they remained until 1970 when PPQ was established.

1971
The USDA established the Animal and Plant Health Service.

1972
Meat and poultry inspection functions were transferred to the Animal and Plant Health Service, and "inspection" was added to the agency's name - making it APHIS.

1984
USDA established a detector dog program at Los Angeles International Airport with one team consisting of a beagle and a canine handler. APHIS worked with the U.S. Customs Service to develop a detector dog program. After selecting beagles as the agency's detector dogs, APHIS worked with the military at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas to train Beagle Brigade teams.

1991
PPQ began to deploy people overseas to work with their foreign counterparts, to ensure that they adhered to the same international plant health standards. Working with other countries has proven to be an effective safeguard against moving pest problems to the U.S.

2000
Congress passed the Plant Protection Act that consolidated ten other regulations into one. This Act increased PPQ's authority to investigate and enforce issues such as noxious weeds. It also increased the authority and dollar amount of civil penalties for violations.

March 4, 2003
The Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was created to prevent terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the United States. Approximately 2,700 employees from AQI transferred from USDA to CBP - most of them inspectors and technicians.

The present
Agricultural inspectors face issues that differ little from those that prompted the passage of the original Plant Quarantine Act - issues like the impact of travel and trade, inspection methods and technologies, and the ability to react rapidly and effectively to new pest introductions. In addition to these issues, there is increased national interest in dealing with invasive species that threaten not just agriculture, but the entire environment.

A moth found in a shipment of carnations. Photo Credit: Anson Eaglin

To help identify those threats, agricultural inspectors can contact PPQ "identifiers" - entomologists, plant pathologists, and botanists - who are located at plant inspection stations at or near the 14 busiest U.S. ports. USDA installed remote identification systems at all ports with PPQ identifiers. These systems contain stereo dissecting and compound microscopes, microscope-mounted digital cameras, digital cameras for larger specimens, workstations with large monitors, and image-processing software. USDA installed additional systems at 15 ports that don't have identifiers, so that agricultural inspectors can send digital images to the PPQ identifiers. Getting same-day pest identification and quarantine determinations throughout the United States for all types of intercepted organisms is now available. This allows for a quicker response to any threat to U.S. agriculture. A quicker response means quicker control of a possibly devastating outbreak of a pest infestation like the Medfly in Florida, or a disease outbreak like Exotic Newcastle Disease in California.

Canines
While the Beagle Brigade may be the most visible of all the canine programs, larger breeds of dogs are also used to work in the mail distribution centers in Oakland, Calif.; Miami, Fla.; and Chicago, Ill. More teams will be added to other centers in the future. (For more information, see the article, "There's a new dog in town," in the April 2003 issue of Customs and Border Protection Today.)

Other dog teams, composed of medium to large breeds, work at northern and southern land border stations inspecting pedestrians, buses, and vehicles. Dog teams also inspect cargo at international airports and seaports.

No matter where they work - whether at an airport, seaport, or border crossing - Agricultural Inspection employees will continue to enforce the laws that provide for an abundant, high-quality, and varied food supply, strengthen the marketability of U.S. agriculture in domestic and international commerce, and contribute to a better worldwide environment. This means that agricultural inspectors will continue to look for that apple, sausage, or any other item that might introduce a pest or disease into the United States.

Agricultural inspectors working a shipment of produce. Photo Credit: Anson Eaglin