Jul 29 2008
RamblerHow Do We Prevent Terrorists From Tampering With Food?
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Is a deliberate contamination of our nation’s food supply a serious threat?
In January 2004 the Bush administration released a Homeland Security Presidential Directive entitled “Fixing Food Safety: Protecting America’s Food Supply From Farm-to-Fork.”
The directive outlines a coordinated national approach to handling threats to the food supply. The directive tasked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with taking charge of the national food defense efforts while working in coordination with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Despite increased responsibility and concern, the FDA has not received any additional funding to support food-related anti-terrorism activities. The USDA has received an additional $150 million.
One tool used by the FDA and the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is a computer program. It examines and analyzes the vulnerabilities within supply systems and infrastructure. Once these vulnerabilities are identified, food growers, producers and manufacturers can focus on protecting the most susceptible areas in their systems.
One problem seems to be that there are no means to ensure that farmers and manufacturers implement any such measures to protect the food supply.
The Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 includes a number of provisions designed to improve the food safety efforts of the FDA in cooperation with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This includes new authority to protect the food supply against terrorist acts and other threats.
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