What is Food Defense and examples of Food Defense Threats

Today we are going to talk about a very important topic of food safety which is food defense, we will also be discussing food defense plan, vulnerability assessment, and some of the examples of food defense threat. Implementation of food defense system is a mandatory requirement of every food processing unit food safety management system. Some food defense is also called as TACCP system.

What is Food Defense:

Food Defense simply can be defined as  efforts to protect food from intentional acts of adulteration where there is an intent to cause public health harm and / or economic disruption. For all food manufacturing sites regardless its a big or small in size and scale, need to implement food defense system to protect consumers. Every site must have an effective food defense system in place and implemented to achieve maximum benefits out of this system.

Food Defense Team:

Every site must establish a food defense team comprising of all functions e.g management, quality, food safety, security, production , warehousing. Team must be trained on food defense requirements and activities required to implement this system.

Food Defense Plan:

Food processing site food defense team must establish a food defense plan which should be comprised of followings.

1. Site Food Defense Team
2. team must conduct Vulnerability Assessment of all areas
3. on the basis of Vulnerability Assessment , areas which are most vulnerable must be identified
4. Identify security measures which needs to be implemented across the site
5. Prepare a corrective action plan with timelines and responsibilities for identified vulnerabilities which came out of assessment
6. Sie must prepare emergency contact list for the site

Potential People who can intentionally contaminate food:

• Company employees who are not satisfied
• Criminals
• Terrorist
• Protesters

What could be done to Prevent Incidents:

Site must ensure to implement strict security controls and access controls for the employees and any other person who can enter the food processing site, Other than vulnerability assessment those measure can be followings.

1. Electronic Access control of the site entrance and then within the food processing sites ,areas must be with electronic access control
2. CCTV : CCTV must be installed across the food processing site along with someone monitoring the CCTV’s in CCTV room
3. Site must have a very strong and high fencing on the outer boundary so that no one can come from fencing
4. Lighting: Sufficient lighting must be provided inside processing areas and raw material storage areas
5. Patrolling: Security team must be deputed to patrol in areas

Site Emergency Response Team:

Site leadership must identify the emergency team who needs to be contact by the site team in case any emergency situation arises.

Examples of Food Defense Threats:

Following can be the food defense threats examples.

1. Intentional adulteration of some chemical in to infant milk formula to harm public health
2. addition of some chemical into bulk water tank to harm public health or harm company reputation
3. Addition of some metal pieces into product to harm company reputation

By following food defense plan  and working on identified vulnerabilities , food processing units can minimize and prevent the risk of intentional contamination in food.