United States Department of Agriculture

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Federal Agency 

Cooperation 

in World Trade 

Activities

Prints Black, Pantone 124, Pantone 267
The Agricultural Marketing Service

USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service

(AMS) plays a large role in agriculture both

at home and abroad. AMS includes six commodity divisions—Cotton, Dairy, Fruit and

Vegetable, Livestock and Seed, Poultry, and

Tobacco. The divisions employ specialists

who provide standardization, grading, and

market news services for those commodities.

AMS enforces such Federal laws as the

Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act

and the Federal Seed Act. AMS commodity

divisions also oversee marketing agreements

and orders, administer research and promotion programs, and purchase commodities

for Federal food programs like the National

School Lunch, Summer Camp, and School

Breakfast Programs; the Nutrition Program

for the Elderly; and the Commodity

Supplemental Food Program.

The Science and Technology Division of AMS

provides centralized scientific support to

AMS programs, including laboratory analyses, laboratory quality assurance, coordination of scientific research conducted by

others for AMS, and statistical and mathematical consulting services. In addition, the

Division’s Plant Variety Protection unit

issues certificates of protection for new varieties of sexually reproduced plants. The

Division also collects and analyzes data about

pesticide residue levels in agricultural commodities. The Division administers the

Pesticide Recordkeeping Program, which

requires all certified private applicators of

federally restricted-use pesticides to maintain records of all applications. The records

are put into a database to help analyze agricultural pesticide use.

The Transportation and Marketing Division

brings together a unique combination of

traffic managers, engineers, rural policy analysts, international trade specialists, and

agricultural marketing specialists to help

solve problems of U.S. and world agricultural

transportation. This division works to ensure

that there is an efficient transportation system for rural America that begins at the farm

gate and moves agricultural and other rural

products over the Nation’s highways, railroads, airports, and waterways and into the

domestic and international marketplace. The

Division supplies research and technical

information to producers, producer groups,

shippers, exporters, rural communities, carriers, government agencies, and universities.

APHIS works closely with AMS on commodity and trade issues. And APHIS and AMS scientists work together and share information

on a number of national agricultural issues.

2 Federal Agency Cooperation in World Trade Activities

While the U.S. Department of

Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant

Health Inspection Service (APHIS) 

plays a significant role in world trade, 

it is only one of many organizations

that does so. APHIS works with other

agencies both inside and outside of

USDA on international trade issues,

such as marketing, transportation,

animal and plant health policy, food

safety, and agricultural trade policy.
The Foreign Agricultural Service

The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) is the

“State Department” of the agriculture world.

FAS maintains offices around the globe and

has primary responsibility for these USDA

overseas programs: market development,

international trade agreement negotiations,

and the collection of statistics and market

information. FAS also administers USDA’s

export credit guarantee and food aid programs and helps increase income and food

availability in developing nations by mobilizing expertise for agriculturally led economic

growth. FAS enhances U.S. agriculture’s

competitiveness by providing linkages to

world resources and international organizations and building a spirit of cooperation.

FAS represents the world’s largest agricultural export country through its network of

agricultural counselors, attachés, and trade

officers stationed overseas and its analysts,

marketing specialists, and negotiators

located in Washington, DC.

The FAS attaché service has 105 professional

agricultural economists and marketing specialists stationed in 64 posts covering 129

countries. Reports coming into Washington

from these in-country experts are the basis

for FAS world commodity market and trade

information and publications. Attaché

reports review changes in policies affecting

U.S. agricultural exports, assess U.S. export

marketing opportunities, monitor important

weather-related developments, and respond

to the daily informational needs of those who

plan, initiate, monitor, and evaluate U.S. food

and agricultural programs and policies.

In addition to data-gathering by attachés,

FAS also maintains a worldwide agricultural

information and reporting system through

U.S. agricultural industries, remote sensing

systems, and other sources. FAS uses this

information to prepare production forecasts

and assess export marketing opportunities,

as well as to track changes in policies affecting U.S. agricultural exports and imports.

Analyzing production and trade, personnel

in the Washington office prepare production

forecasts and assess export marketing opportunities, as well as track changes in policies

affecting U.S. agricultural exports and

imports. These analyses are used by policymakers, program administrators, producers,

and exporters.

FAS programs help U.S. exporters develop

and maintain markets overseas for hundreds

of food and agricultural products ranging

from bulk commodities to brand-name grocery items. Promotional activities are carried

out chiefly in cooperation with nonprofit

agricultural trade associations and cooperatives that agree to plan, manage, and contribute staff resources and funds to support

these activities. The largest FAS promotional

programs are the Foreign Market

Development Cooperator Program and the

Market Access Program.

Additionally, FAS sponsors U.S. participation

in several major trade shows and a number

of single-industry exhibitions overseas each

year. Trade offices in 15 key market countries

function as service centers for U.S. exporters

and foreign buyers seeking market information. U.S. agricultural trade offices and

attaché offices provide foreign buyers with

up-to-the-minute communication with

potential suppliers in the United States. FAS

Trade Office personnel also assist U.S.

exporters in launching products in overseas

markets characterized by different food preferences, social customs, and marketing

systems.

FAS coordinates and directs USDA’s

responsibilities in international trade agreement programs and negotiations, working

closely with the office of the U.S. Trade

Representative (USTR) in this effort.

International trade policy experts within FAS

help identify—and work to reduce—foreign

trade barriers and practices that discourage

the export of U.S. agricultural products. As

the United States’ information clearinghouse

for World Trade Organization (WTO) sanitary

and phytosanitary issues and technical

Federal Agency Cooperation in World Trade Activities 3

APHIS works closely

with AMS on

commodity and

trade issues. And

APHIS and AMS

scientists work

together and share

information on a

number of national

agricultural issues.
barriers to trade, FAS serves as the official

conduit for notifications and comments

about these measures. U.S. agricultural

exports are subject to import duties and nontariff trade restrictions. Trade information

sent to Washington from FAS personnel

overseas is used to map strategies for

improving market access, pursuing U.S.

rights under trade agreements, and developing programs and policies to make U.S. farm

products more competitive.

APHIS works closely with FAS on trade

issues. APHIS Plant Protection and

Quarantine (PPQ) and Veterinary Services

personnel closely monitor imports to the

United States and designate disease- and

pest-free status to all foreign countries that

wish to trade with America.

Food Safety and Inspection Service

While FAS works to ensure U.S. agricultural

strength around the world, USDA’s Food

Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) works

alongside APHIS and has the primary

responsibility to keep America’s domestic

and imported meat and poultry free of disease. The USDA grading scale and stamp are

marks of excellence worldwide.

FSIS is the public health agency in USDA,

protecting consumers by ensuring that meat

and poultry products are safe, wholesome,

and accurately labeled. FSIS regulates meat

and poultry products, which account for a

third of consumer spending for food and

carry an annual retail value of $120 billion.

FSIS regulates all raw beef, pork, lamb,

chicken, and turkey, as well as approximately

250,000 different processed meat and poultry

products, including hams, sausage, soups,

stews, pizzas, and frozen dinners (any product that contains 2 percent or more cooked

poultry or 3 percent or more raw meat).

Consumers purchase these products packaged with 500,000 different USDA-approved

labels.

Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and

the Poultry Products Inspection Act, FSIS

inspects all meat and poultry sold in interstate and foreign commerce, including

imported products. About 7,400 Federal

inspectors oversee meat and poultry processing in some 6,200 plants. Inspectors check

animals before and after slaughter, visually

examining more than 6 billion poultry carcasses and 125 million livestock carcasses,

including beef, pork, and lamb, each year.

FSIS personnel prevent diseased animals

from entering the food supply and examine

carcasses for visible defects that can affect

safety and quality. FSIS also inspects products during processing, handling, and packaging to ensure that they are safe and

truthfully labeled.

FSIS sets standards for a range of activities

associated with the production of meat and

poultry products. For instance, the agency

evaluates and sets standards for food ingredients, additives, and compounds used to prepare and package meat and poultry products.

All plant facilities and equipment must

adhere to FSIS standards and be approved

before they can be used. The agency sets

labeling standards and approves labels for

meat and poultry products. FSIS also sets

standards for certain slaughter and processing activities, such as plant sanitation and

thermal processing.

FSIS develops and improves analytical procedures for detecting microbiological and

chemical adulterants and infectious and

toxic agents in meat and poultry products.

The agency also develops new methods of

inspection to better protect the public

health, evaluating the effectiveness of its

programs through systematic and special

reviews. It responds to residue and other

contamination incidents and, when appropriate, seeks voluntary recall of products by

firms. FSIS and APHIS also work together on

animal disease issues. APHIS often shares its

expertise with FSIS on zoosanitary and phytosanitary issues.

4 Federal Agency Cooperation in World Trade Activities

APHIS works closely

with FAS on trade

issues. APHIS Plant

Protection and

Quarantine (PPQ)

and Veterinary

Services personnel

closely monitor

imports to the

United States and

designate diseaseand pest-free 

status to all foreign

countries that 

wish to trade with

America.
FSIS is pursuing a broad and long-term

science-based strategy to improve the safety

of meat and poultry products and to better

protect public health. FSIS is undertaking a

farm-to-table approach by improving the

safety of meat and poultry at each step in the

food production, processing, distribution,

and marketing chain. These steps are

designed to focus more attention on the risk

of microbial contamination, the Nation’s

most significant food safety problem. The

agency’s goal is to reduce contamination as

much as possible by setting public healthoriented standards for pathogenic microorganisms, building the principle of prevention

into the production and inspection

processes, and fostering the development

and use of new technology.

In addition to a number of inplant improvements, FSIS is working closely with the Food

and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure

food safety at the retail level and to establish

Federal standards for the safe handling of

food during transportation, distribution, and

storage.

Food and Drug Administration

FDA, an agency of the U.S. Department of

Health and Human Services, is responsible

for ensuring that foods are safe, wholesome,

and sanitary. Products regulated by FDA that

are made in other countries but sold here

must meet the same standards as foods,

drugs, cosmetics, and medical devices manufactured domestically.

The rapidly increasing activity of international and other organizations in developing

product and process standards and the rise

in number of imports of FDA-regulated products into the United States have helped to

focus the agency’s attention on its international role. FDA can better fulfill its mandate

to protect and promote the public health by

collaborating and cooperating with its foreign regulatory counterparts and international standards-setting organizations to

facilitate the compliance by imported products with FDA standards. Given the increase

in imports, FDA is continually seeking ways

to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of

its international inspection, technical cooperation, and standardization efforts.

By clearly explaining to all nations and firms

that import FDA-regulated products into the

United States their requirements, FDA facilitates the importation of products that meet

these requirements and discourages the

admittance of those that do not. FDA helps

foreign and domestic manufacturers understand how to comply with FDA’s guidelines

for Current Good Manufacturing Practice,

Good Clinical Practice, and Good Laboratory

Practice, and Procedures for the Safe and

Sanitary Processing and Importing of Fish

and Fishery Products, and other regulations.

International activities take place in virtually

every part of the agency. Most FDA centers

and offices have established contact points

dedicated to enhancing FDA interactions

with foreign governments, industry, and

international organizations.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Another Federal agency that works with

international trade issues, frequently in conjunction with APHIS, is the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service (FWS). FWS, which is a part

of the U.S. Department of the Interior, is the

principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish,

wildlife, and plants and their habitats for the

continuing benefit of the American people.

The Service manages 520 National Wildlife

Refuges on 93 million acres and thousands

of small wetlands and other special management areas. FWS also operates 66 national

fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices,

and 78 ecological services field stations.

Federal Agency Cooperation in World Trade Activities 5

It takes a team of

dedicated Federal

agencies, of which

APHIS is a part, 

to keep America

competitive in 

the international

trade arena.
Among its key functions, the Service

enforces Federal wildlife laws, protects

endangered species, manages migratory

birds, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat

such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their international conservation

efforts. It also oversees the Federal aid

program that distributes hundreds of

millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing

and hunting equipment to State fish and

wildlife agencies.

In enforcing the provisions of the 1975

Convention on International Trade in

Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna

(CITES), FWS works to protect threatened

species from all international commercial

trade and determine if species that are not

threatened could become so if they continue

to be unregulated. FWS also lists currently

protected U.S. native species of animals 

and plants.

APHIS works closely with FWS on a number

of issues. FWS coordinates with APHIS

Animal Care on animal welfare issues, 

with Wildlife Services on issues involving

migratory birds and threatened and endangered species, with Veterinary Services on

smuggled birds and animal disease issues,

and with PPQ on CITES-listed endangered

plant species.

United States Trade Representative

Probably the best known Federal entity

working on trade issues is the office of the

USTR. It is responsible for developing and

coordinating America’s foreign trade, commodity, and direct investment policy.

The USTR provides trade policy leadership

and negotiating expertise in several areas,

including export expansion policy, industrial

and services trade policy, international commodity agreements and policy, bilateral and

multilateral trade and investment issues,

trade-related intellectual property protection

issues, import policy, trade, commodity, and

direct investment matters dealt with by

international institutions such as the

Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development, the United Nations Conference

on Trade and Development, and all dealings

with the WTO.

The issue of international trade is very large

and very complicated. Federal offices work

together with each other and, oftentimes,

with State, local, and private interests to

ensure that America continues to be an economic force in the world. There is no single

office that handles all trade-related matters,

even specialized trade such as agriculture. It

takes a team of dedicated Federal agencies, of

which APHIS is a part, to keep America competitive in the international trade arena.

For more information about APHIS

programs, visit the APHIS homepage at

http://www.aphis.usda.gov

6 Federal Agency Cooperation in World Trade Activities

FWS coordinates

with APHIS Animal

Care on animal

welfare issues, with

Wildlife Services 

on issues involving

migratory birds 

and threatened 

and endangered

species...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture prohibits discrimination in all its

programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex,

religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or

family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons

with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of

program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact

USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720–2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil

Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW,

Washington, DC 20250–9410 or call (202) 720–5964 (voice and TDD).

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
United States

Department of

Agriculture

Animal and Plant

Health Inspection

Service

Miscellaneous 

Publication No. 1578

Issued September 2001