Mom always said fruits and vegetables are good for you, but a team of ASU researchers is looking at whether produce could actually be a threat.
New research at ASU's Morrison School of Management and Agribusiness is examining how safe food imported from Mexico really is.
A group of five professors received approximately $263,800 from the National Center for Food Protection and Defense — an agency under the Department of Homeland Security. The money will be used to research the possibility of agro-terrorism, or terrorists contaminating fruits and vegetables, coming through the border at Nogales.
"Our main objective is to look at the supply chain," said Ram Acharya, an agricultural economist with the Morrison School who is working on the project.
Since Sept. 11, security has become as much of a concern as quality when it comes to importing fruits and vegetables, Acharya said.
Vehicle searches at border checkpoints are one of the areas the group will research, he added.
Acharya said inspections by the Mexican army during the border process could provide an opportunity for outside contamination or tampering.
"We need to exactly identify what is going on there," he said.
Members of the group will be traveling to Nogales to work with Mexican authorities to finalize the survey next month. The study will run through May 2009.
"People on the Mexican side are interested and willing to work with us," Acharya said.
The supply chain at Nogales is especially important for the economy, Acharya said. Between October and May, almost half of the produce coming from Mexico to the rest of the United States passes through its security checkpoints.
Approximately 900 trucks of food cross the border every day.
"We need to first understand what is out there and identify if there is any kind of security lapse or threat or weakness in the system," Acharya said.
To learn about threats to security, the researchers will survey agencies on both sides of the border and then study the information to make recommendations about national border policy, Acharya said.
Paul Patterson, dean of the Morrison School, said the study will be relevant to national policy, but will also reach people at a more personal level.
"We're encouraging people to eat more fruits and vegetables, but now fruit and vegetables are second only to seafood in the number of food safety instances," Patterson said. "There is an urgent public need to address this."
Reach the reporter at: claudia.koerner@asu.edu.
