Food Protection Trends - May/June 2013 - (Page 158)

SPECIAL INTEREST PAPER The Food Safety Modernization Act – A Series on What is Essential for a Food Professional to Know [ Article 3. Food Defense [ DEANN L. BENESH 3M Food Safety Dept., 3M Center, Bldg. 0260-06-B-01, St. Paul, MN 55144, USA ABSTRACT This is article three in a series of seven articles being published in Food Protection Trends to provide basics on the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). This article focuses on the main provisions of FSMA that pertain to Food Defense, which include hazard analysis and risk-based control, protection against intentional adulteration, national agriculture and food defense strategy, and the Food and Agriculture Coordinating Councils. It also includes discusson of activities covered by parts of additional sections of the Act that play a part in Food Defense: building domestic capacity, maintaining a food emergency response network, integrating a consortium of laboratory networks, and improving food defense capacity at the state and local levels. INTRODUCTION To begin an article on food defense, some definitions are first necessary to ensure a common understanding of key concepts. Per the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Web site, under FSMA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), “Food Defense is the effort to protect the food supply against intentional contamination due to sabotage, terrorism, counterfeiting, or other illegal, intentionally harmful means. Potential contaminants include biological, chemical and radiological hazards that are generally not found in foods or their production environment. Food Defense differs from Food Safety, which is the effort to prevent unintentional contamination of food products by agents reasonably likely to occur in the food supply (e.g., E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria)” (27). Food Security, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), exists “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life” (30). This article is focused specifically on those sections within FSMA that pertain to Food Defense, based on the FDA definition. It also focuses on authorities first granted to the agency under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (Bioterrorism Act) (1) as well as several Homeland Security Presidential Directives (HSPDs) and Presidential Policy Directives (PPDs) that initiated key food defense actions, beginning in 2003. Intentional adulteration of food or feed in the U.S. has occurred through the actions of disgruntled employees, as demonstrated by the poisoning of 200 pounds of meat with insecticide by a supermarket employee in Michigan in 2003 (2), by the actions of politically motivated groups, such as the spraying of Salmonella on a salad bar to make people ill and reduce voter turnout in Oregon in 1985 (5), and as a result of economically motivated actions, such as replacement of melamine for protein in pet foods entering the U.S. from China in 2007 (20). Intentional acts such as these result in significant consequences that affect the economy and public health as well as having psychological and political ramifications. U.S. farms, foods, and agriculture systems account for about 13 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product and 18 percent *Author for correspondence: Phone: +1 651.736.3594; Fax: +1 651.733.1804; E-mail: dbenesh1@mmm.com 158 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS MAY–JUNE 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - May/June 2013

Food Protection Trends - May/june 2013
Contents
Commentary
Measuring Self-Efficacy of Food Safety in Middle School Populations
Food Safety Knowledge Among Restaurant Food Handlers in NeuchâTel, Switzerland
Video Observation and Data Coding Methods
Fsma: Article 3
General Interest Paper: Food Safety Risks of Mycotoxins
General Interest Paper: Fao/who Project Report
Industry Products
Coming Events

Food Protection Trends - May/June 2013