Food safetyA computer program would track food, ingredients in packaged food, imported into U.S.

Scientists at University of Minnesota’s National Center for Food Protection and Defense (NCFPD) are developing a computer program which could allow the government and private sector to map the supply chain of every product imported into the United States, from mobile phones to car seats to the ingredients in packaged foods. Testing for the program, CRISTAL, is already underway, and if successful, could help DHS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) protect the nation’s food supply.

Star Tribune notes that the USDA already monitors the nation’s food safety, but DHS is particularly interested in CRISTAL because of increasing terror threats to the nation’s food supply. “You can’t put up a gate around the food sector,” said Matt Coats, a program manager in DHS’s Office of University Programs. “This would help a company understand the … risks associated with a supply chain.”

Scientists working on the CRISTAL program, as do many researchers working on projects with DHS, are concerned that should Congress fail to fund DHS once the department’s current funding expires on 27 February 2015, they may have to halt work on breakthrough projects. The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to fund DHS beyond the current budget expiration date — but the bill would eliminate funding for DHS implementation of immigration initiatives issued by President Barack Obama. Should the funding bill pass the Senate and reach the White House, Obama has threatened to veto it.

“The House has complicated an effort to fund the Department of Homeland Security … with amendments that aren’t relevant,” Cecilia Muñoz, assistant to Obama, said last Wednesday.

House Republicans insist that the current DHS funding bill cuts funding for specific programs that implement Obama’s executive orders on immigration, therefore all other DHS activities could proceed without interruption.

Critics of the House bill, however, warn that once cuts begin, DHS funds may be shifted around to support underfunded programs. House Appropriations Committee member Betty McCollum (D-Minnesota) – the NCFPD is located in Minnesota — said last week that Republicans are “playing games” with protecting the homeland and “picking a fight with the president.” “The Republican insistence on playing politics with the DHS appropriations bill puts the valuable work being done at this center — and others like it all across the country — at risk,” McCollum said.

Amy Kircher, director of the NCFPD, understands how politics in Washington can affect her program, which operates CRISTAL and receives roughly $4 million a year from DHS. “The funding issue is challenging in that DHS has so many missions, and delays in funding harm programs unrelated to the area of concern,” she said.

The NCFPD launched as a DHS Center of Excellence in July 2004 under the department’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T).