Following unanimous Senate passage last month, the “Beagle Brigade Act” was approved on Wednesday by the House on a 381-20 vote. It authorizes the USDA's National Detector Dog Training Center, which trains beagles and other dogs to detect at U.S. ports of entry food, plants and other host material that can carry foreign pests and diseases. The bill now goes to President Biden to be signed into law.

The National Pork Producers Council strongly supported the “Beagle Brigade Act” to permanently authorize the training center, which has been operating under USDA’s general authority over animal and plant health, with funding through user fees.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection uses dogs at ports of entry to spot contraband fruits, vegetables and meat products in international passenger baggage, mailed packages and vehicles entering the United States. On a typical day, CBP seizes more than 4,600 plants, meat and animal byproducts that must be quarantined and, in most cases, destroyed.

In addition to authorizing and funding the dog training center, the legislation also requires USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to report to Congress in one year on current and emerging threats to domestic agricultural and natural resources from foreign pests and diseases; improvements needed in federal programs to minimize disease threats, including better coordination among APHIS, CBP and other federal agencies; and recommendations for strengthening the capabilities of the training center in protecting against foreign pests and diseases.

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“American agriculture relies on the Beagle Brigade to prevent the introduction of foreign animal and plant diseases that would cripple our food supply,” said Lori Stevermer, NPPC president and a pork producer from Easton, Minnesota. “For the pork industry, it's the first line of defense for keeping threats from foreign animal diseases, such as African swine fever, out of the United States.”

Foreign diseases and pests carried into the United States cost the country $138 billion annually in economic and environmental losses, according to USDA. NPPC is particularly concerned about ASF reaching the U.S. mainland. In July 2021, the pig-only disease was detected on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, just 750 miles from U.S. shores.