Food as a Means of Terrorism
(and How to Defend Against this Low-Likelihood/High-Consequence Threat) By arT JoHNSoN
A
groterrorism is defined as a deliberate attack or hoax targeting the food supply, with the goal of generating fear over the safety of food, causing economic losses, and/or undermining social stability.
What would the consequences be if an act of terrorism, either a hoax or a real event, was aimed at the food items necessary for the success of your business? examples of agroterrorism would include the deliberate introduction of a poison into the food supply, transmission of a disease agent into a commercial food-animal operation, or release of a plant pest or disease onto a farm or grove. The United States government has determined that the possibility of this type of terrorism is real, and much planning, training, and strategizing has been completed by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and other federal, state, and local agencies in this focus area over the past decade. agroterrorism is characterized by most experts as a lowlikelihood/high-consequence threat, meaning that although the chance of this type of attack occurring in any given jurisdiction is very low, the consequences could be both costly (in terms of economic 36 AU G UST/SEPT EM B ER
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damage, illness, and/or loss of life) and widespread (with regional, national, or international implications). as a Florida food business owner or manager with many pressing challenges to contend with on a daily basis, how concerned should you be about this particular type of risk? Is it something that should be addressed by individual businesses, or is the risk remote enough to allow it to be handled by government action alone? and if you do indeed determine that this type of risk is high enough to warrant a response, what can be done to prepare for or prevent this type of adverse event? In addressing these questions, it is worth remembering that retail products have been successfully used in the past as a means of attack. In 1982 in Chicago, a tampering incident involving extra-Strength Tylenol® capsules occurred on the shelves of several neighborhood stores, leading to the deaths of 7 people from cyanide poisoning. This incident caused millions of dollars in losses and the almost overnight change of an entire industry (replacement of capsules with caplets, and the widespread use of tamperproof packaging). although this incident did not involve a food product, it serves as a warning of how widespread the effects of a single food tampering incident could be. In 1984 in The Dalles, oregon, a religious cult with
a desire to sicken the local population and gain advantage in local elections deliberately introduced Salmonella into the salad bars of 10 restaurants, causing 751 confirmed cases of illness and 45 hospitalizations. Cult members were able to obtain dangerous biological substances and introduce them into the food supply without detection (the deliberate nature of the outbreak did not come to light until cult members confessed more than a year later). one tragic result of this incident was that the outbreak caused huge financial losses to restaurant owners due to the erroneous perception that it was caused by food handler’s poor hygiene, and all but one of the affected restaurants went out of business or changed ownership within two years. Thankfully, we have not seen any large-scale incidents comparable to these in the past three decades, but modern efficiencies of food distribution and the globalization of the food supply have increased the possibility that similar events today could have significant reach. recent, naturally occurring outbreaks of e. coli, Salmonella, Hepatitis a, and cyclospora, in products as diverse as fresh spinach, peanut butter, organic berries and bagged salad, continue to remind us how widespread contamination can quickly become in today’s complex and interconnected food distribution environment. Given that food has been used as a means of attack in
our country in the past, and that modern food distribution could enable widespread consequences from an intentional attack, what can Florida food businesses do to protect their customers, employees, and their bottom lines? Following are three common sense actions that can be taken, many of them with little or no direct cost to food businesses.
Become More Aware of Food System Vulnerabilities and Mitigation Steps one of the simplest actions food businesses can take to reduce vulnerability is to ensure that managers and employees fully understand the risks inherit in the food supply. The U.S. Food and Drug administration (FDa) recently updated and released several food defense training courses and tools, all available for free at their website (http://www. fda.gov/Food/FoodDefense/ default.htm). additionally, the Department of Homeland Security continues to sponsor free instructor-led agroterrorism prevention training, with many courses offered in Florida on an annual basis. These courses are designed to ensure that vulnerabilities in the food supply are well-understood, and to provide ideas for mitigation and protective actions that can be quickly and easily implemented. (For information on how to obtain notice of these free training opportunities, please see the
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