As the ease and availability of foods improves, food safety and food defense concerns also increase. In 2010, American's are more aware than ever before of the impact that a contaminated food supply would have on public health.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently developed the Food Protection Plan to integrate food safety and food/facility defense strategies to protect our food supply. Food safety is the prevention of unintentional food contamination by developing and implementing prerequisite programs and monitoring finished products to ensure that safe and wholesome products reach consumers. Food and facility defense is the prevention of intentional acts of food contamination and the protection of the assets, brand, physical building and personnel at a facility by developing and implementing security programs and strategies that reduce or eliminate identified risks and intentional sabotage of products.

The Food Protection Plan will implement a strategy of prevention, intervention and response to build safety and security into every step of the food supply chain.

There are six core changes that prompted the FDA to reevaluate the impact of food safety and food defense issues on the American marketplace.

Demographics

As groups with special needs increase (i.e. infants, pregnant women, elderly people, and immuno-compromised people) the number of people who are more susceptible to foodborne illnesses also increases.

Convenience

Americans are consuming convenience foods, ready-to-eat foods and food service items, and are dining out and buying prepared foods in larger quantities thus increasing the risk of cross contaminated food product.

Consumption

Imported foods, including fruits and vegetables are available year round.

Global Food Supply

Consumption issues are affected by the large amount of food that is now imported into the US.

Foodborne Pathogens

The development of advanced technologies is needed to identify and detect new foodborne pathogens.

Intentional Contamination

Recent outbreaks of food illnesses and reports of food product recalls has heightened the awareness and illustrates the potential impact of food product contamination, and the associated consequences of what could happen in the event of an intentional act of contamination.

Core Elements of the Food Protection Plan

The three core elements of the Food Protection Plan are prevention, intervention, and response.

The prevention element includes promoting increased corporate responsibility so that food problems do not occur in the first place. The intervention element focuses on risk-based inspections, sampling and surveillance at high-risk points in the food supply chain. The response element strengthens FDA's emergency response efforts by allowing for increased speed and efficiency.

How will this be accomplished?

The Food Protection Plan identifies four ways to accomplish its goals.

• Focus on risks over the product's life cycle
• Target resources to achieve maximum risk reduction
• Address intentional and unintentional contamination
• Use science and modern technology systems

These cross-cutting principles relate to the integrated plant by preventing foodborne illnesses, intervening with risk-based FDA actions at critical points in the food supply chain, and responding rapidly when contaminated food or feed is detected.

Conclusion

There is a very real need for a review of current food safety and food defense practices. The FDA's Food Protection Plan addresses the need to evaluate intentional and unintentional food contamination.

For more information visit www.aibonline.org

- Reporting by Bonnie Biegel & Rod Wheeler, AIB International