Issue View | Council II | 2020 Biennial Meeting

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Reestablishment of a Food Defense Committee

The Reestablishment of a Food Defense Committee

There have been several intentional adulteration events related to food establishments in the United States. Examples include:

• 1984 Rajneeshee attack on 10 salad bars in Oregon (750 ill)
• 2002-2003 Nicotine poisoning of retail meats in Michigan (100 ill)
• 2009 Pesticide poisonings of salsa at a restaurant in Kansas (40 ill)
• 2016 Intentional contamination of RTE food at local grocery stores in Michigan (No ill)
• 2017 Intentional contamination of RTE food at restaurants in South Lake Tahoe in California (4 ill)

Food defense, protecting food from intentional adulteration, is an important concept for the entire farm-to-table system, including food establishments (as defined in Model Food Code). The passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Intentional Adulteration rule establishes requirements for covered food manufacturing facilities to develop and implement a food defense plan. As food establishment operators and regulators continue to look at risk factor data and supporting a food safety system approach, the need to protect consumers and retailers from potential food adulteration incidents is paramount. Current food defense resources found in the FDA Food Code are not sufficient to meet the needs of food establishments There are about 3 pages of reference materials in Annex 2, Section 4 (pages 333-336) of the most current published version of the FDA Model Food Code. Many of these references are difficult to find because of broken/outdated links. Additionally, several of the resources are not designed for food establishments.

that a Food Defense Committee be reestablished to evaluate ways to improve Food Defense awareness for both operators and regulators in food establishments. Charges for the committee are:

1. Develop a food establishment food defense guide.
2. Develop a food establishment food defense best practices toolkit.
3. Identify current food defense references to be included in Appendix 2, Section 4.
4. Recommend whether an additional knowledge area under 2-102.11(C) relating to Food Defense in food establishments is appropriate.
5. Recommend whether an additional duty of the Person In Charge to take reasonable measures to minimize the risk for intentional adulteration of food is appropriate.
6. Report the committee's findings and recommendations back to the Conference at the 2022 Biennial Meeting.