Continuity of business plans for disease outbreaks: Using a logic model approach to protect animal health, public health and food security

With increasing travel and trade, foreign animal diseases are an important concern to the United States. Disease outbreaks in animals, like highly pathogenic avian influenza, can carry critical consequences for both public health, animal health, and the economy. When production animals are affected, these outbreaks can also have serious implications for food safety and food security. Continuity of business plans provide a strategy to balance the need to maintain a flow of uncontaminated and uninfected conveyances, animals, and products against the risk of transmitting the biologic agent to uninfected animals. We develop a theory-based logic model for continuity of business planning for animal disease outbreaks, with a specific focus on protecting food safety (ensuring products are free of disease) and food security (ensuring products can move to market). By delineating activities, inputs, outputs, and outcomes, we identify key elements for continuity of business plans and demonstrate how activities and inputs can be effective in ensuring the health of the public and of animals through concrete outputs and short-term and long-term outcomes. In addition, we identify “critical points” in the model where an active decision must be made on the risk of moving products, balanced against potential negative consequences of disease transmission. Finally, we validate this model with key planners and responders to ensure its appropriateness. This model and process enables planners and responders to understand and assess the potential benefits and consequences to continuity of business measures.