Chapter 16 Achieving Total Food Protection: Benefits From Integrating Food Safety and Food Defense Programs

摘要

Opportunities exist to introduce biological agents, industrial chemicals, toxins, or radiological agents into foods and packaging which could go undetected in traditionally-structured HACCP-based food safety systems. Select pathogens, heat-resistant microbial toxins, poisonous, odorless and tasteless chemicals and radiological contaminants are examples of agents that can often avoid normally-employed HACCP detection methods. It is clear that to proactively engage the evolving threats to our food supply, a fully-integrated food safety and food defense strategic platform helps rationalize significant U.S. public and private investments in achieving total food protection goals for thernindustry and consumer. In helping to protect agriculture and food as a U.S. critical infrastructure, George W. Bush signed Homeland Security Presidential Directives HSPD-7 and HSPD-9. These mandates are anchored in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) adoption of an "all-hazards" risk/threat management approach designed to enhance protection of our nations' food supply, sourced domestically and increasingly from overseas, as presented in its 2007 Food Protection Plan. This chapter suggests the use of a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)-like core risk assessment and management methodology to the identification and mitigation of food defense vulnerabilities. Hazard/threat identification methodology involving food safety and food defense are fundamentally the same; only the perspectives in identifying and managing these risks are different. It is also imperative that the food industry shifts to the use of more comprehensive total food protection facility assessments and not rely solely on current third-party auditing structures to identify vulnerabilities. Food defense technologies must correctly detect (ideally identify) and mitigate potential hazards that, while reasonably unlikely to occur, could result in a catastrophic business and/or industry outcome (low probability/high consequence). These must run parallel to detection and mitigation of traditional food safety hazards which are "reasonably likely to occur". Adopting a common technology platform using developments such as rapid chem/bio sensors, trace-back and product identity preservation technologies, tamper-proof and tamper-evident packaging, surveillance technologies and risk decision support and human factor assessment methods are examples of food safety and food defense integration opportunities which complement total food protection objectives to best and most efficiently protect our critical infrastructure, industry and the consumer. This chapter makes practical recommendations on how the U.S. food industry can best equip itself to efficiently address the challenges and opportunities in identifying and mitigating product integrity vulnerabilities before catastrophic consequences are allowed to occur.