Food Defense—What is Your Game Plan?
We are into the season of Friday Night Lights and for many of you, this is a time when offensive and defensive strategies are discussed and rehashed during Monday morning quarterbacking sessions. Most of you working in foodservices have your “offensive” game under control with menu item and service strategies to ensure customer satisfaction–a big part of your play book. But, how is your “defensive” game? Do you have procedures in place to protect food from intentional contamination? In this blog, we will cover some background on food defense and discuss whether it really is a necessary strategy. In the second posting for this month, action steps for operations to consider will be presented.
Is food defense important? Well, before September 11th, 2001 we really never gave it a thought. Any defensive measures taken were more for protection of food inventory from theft, spoilage, and unintentional contamination of food. But after the terrorist attack on American soil, there was increased recognition of potential vulnerabilities with our food and water supplies. New regulations went into effect with passage of the Bio-Security Act of 2002, which required the “one-step forward and one-step back” traceability along the food chain. That is why foodservice operations need to be able to trace back a specific food order to a particular vendor, who in turn should be able to go back one step to their source of that ingredient, and so on and so on and so on. With some food products having multiple steps from production to service sites, good record keeping is important! Traceability is helpful in case there is a foodborne illness outbreak or a recall of a product due to post-distribution awareness of a processing glitch.
Before 9/11, experts considered the U.S. food industry to be a soft target, meaning it was vulnerable to acts of intentional contamination with chemical or biological weapons. In 2008, the World Health Organization urged its Member States to recognize the potential for food to be deliberately contaminated, and to strengthen food production, processing, and preparation systems. The existence of a global food system means an attack contaminating a large batch of a food product or an ingredient has the potential to affect a large number of people in many different places.
Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) labeling requirements have been debated for a while. You have seen site of production on labels of fresh fruits and vegetables for several years. While COOL has provided consumers with information and helped to answer the question of “do you know where your food comes from?”, it has been a political hot potato for animal foods with our trade partners and the impacts on production and processing costs (with costs passed along to consumers, including foodservices) often significant. Other food defense regulations pertain to ownership of food companies, a contentious point when Smithfield Foods majority ownership was acquired by a Chinese corporation. The Food Safety Modernization Act Final Rule for Mitigation Strategies to Protect Food Against Intentional Adulteration, released in May 2016, provides guidance to the food industry.
Have there been any attacks through food or water?
Sadly, yes there have been documented instances here in the United States of groups or cults purposefully contaminating salad bars, and disgruntled employees or ex-employees adding broken glass and other physical hazards to batches of product. An analysis* of 365 confirmed incidents of malicious food contamination across the globe showed the majority occurred in the home or at work, and were perpetrated by relatives, co-workers, and/or acquaintances of the victims. However, of these incidents, 23.3% (n = 85) occurred in retail foodservice venues and contributed the highest average number of casualties (n = 39) per incident. In the former instance involving a cult group, there was a deliberative plan to target the salad bars at multiple restaurants and schools with salmonella bacteria. They were successful to a point! Fortunately in the school setting, one of the cult members admitted she was unable to contaminate the food because of the peer oversight. Her quote: “Those ladies were really watching me”!
Why would there be intentional contamination of food or water supplies?
The primary motivation behind any type of terrorist attack is disruption of social life causing physical, psychological, or economic damage. Disgruntled employees, criminals, and individuals holding a grudge are in a position to intentionally contaminate the food in the work place – a case of “I’ll show them!” A 2010 survey of 926 restaurant managers in South Carolina** found that managers reported 29 alleged food tampering incidents in their restaurants, with dissatisfied or terminated employees as probable perpetrators in 16 of the incidents. Three intentional contamination acts reported in schools were initiated by students angry at a teacher or other students. Two of the acts involved rat poison, and one involved mercury from a broken thermometer.
So, yes, it could happen! And it doesn’t require any exotic substances as many commonly available chemicals in foodservice can cause harm if ingested. Now the question is, do you have plans in place to prevent or identify an intentional contamination? Next time we will review what actions you can put into play to up your defensive game, and protect your customers and employees from food that is intentionally contaminated. Risk nothing!
*Dalziel, G. R. (2009). Food defence incidents 1950-2008: A chronology and analysis of incidents involving the malicious contamination of the food supply chain. Retrieved from S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies: Nanyang Technological University website: http://www.rsis.edu.sg/cens/publications/reports/RSIS_Food%20Defence_170209.pdf
** Xirasagar, S., Kanwat, C. P., Smith, L. U., Li, Y.J., Sros, L., & Shewchuk, R. M. (2010). Restaurant industry preparedness against intentional food contamination: Results of a South Carolina survey. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice,16(4), E18-E30. http://www.lww.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product__11851_-1_9012052_Prod-10784659
Getting Started with Building the Infrastructure
Hopefully in our first January blog, we convinced you of the importance of establishing an infrastructure within your operation to support a safe food culture. So, how does one go about doing this? Well, like any major project, break it into small bites. In our opinion, having a written guide for employees that documents expectations related to food safety basics of employee health and hygiene, temperature controls, and cleaning and sanitizing is the first step. Having this documentation serves as a reference for training and helps fulfill the mission of most foodservice operators which is to serve safe, quality food.
Food Safety Resolutions for the New Year
Finally, 2020 is in our rearview mirror and we can all turn the page to 2021! Resolutions for the new year might be more of the same from prior years (lose weight, exercise more, less screen time, etc.) OR you may have identified new practices to implement in your operation. If the latter, likely goals included some practices related to food safety – especially given the turmoil of 2020 and heightened concern by customers. It is our philosophy that attention to safe food handling practices is a win-win for any operation because of the direct relationship between food safety and food quality, which in turn leads to customer satisfaction. This past year has also demonstrated that attention to safety can affect the bottom line. Thus, the topic of our first SafeBites webinar for 2021 is on the topic of the return on investment of food safety, it is scheduled for January 20, so register now and please plan to attend.
To Toss or Not to Toss? That is the question.
Our first blog for the month emphasized the basic safe food practices needed to keep you and your guests healthy (and happy!), especially during these times of COVID. The impact of foodborne illness can range from an uncomfortable few days to hospitalization or death. Foodborne illness IS preventable and the steps taken to keep food safe also maintain quality of food, and ultimately profitability. Think of attention to food safety as part of quality control and a win-win business strategy. Knowledge about food safety can be helpful when controlling costs as making wise decisions when determining the fate of unserved food can affect the bottom line.
Holiday Food Safety Controls
In case you have not noticed - the holidays are here! We have seen store decorations up since mid-September and early bird deals advertised for several weeks, stretching the typical Black Friday deals throughout the month as retailers strive to ensure market share, while following increasingly stringent mandates for physical distancing
