State official says food supply safety a challenge

The administrator of the state’s emergency management division says one of the challenges to protecting the food supply in Iowa and the rest of the country is that most of the nation’s food network is privately held. Emergency management administrator David Miller says that’s why it’s important that his agency reach out to private industry as well as other government agencies to make sure there’s a “sound ag food security policy” in place. This week, Miller revealed his agency has joined with the state Ag Department to create a new office that will focus exclusively on agroterrorism and food security issues. One trillion dollars in economic activity is generated annually by the U-S agricultural sector. “Iowa plays a big role in that,” Miller says. “We’re first in production in a number of areas. It’s incumbent on us to protect that infrastructure.”