FDA Develops Online Tool for Food Defense Mitigation Strategies

A new online tool, Food Defense Mitigation Strategies Database (MSD), is now available from the FDA. Posted on March 23, the new database is one of several tools developed by the FDA for the food industry to help protect the nation’s food supply from deliberate acts of contamination or tampering.

The FDA states that, although there is no specific targeting information indicating that an attack to the US food supply is imminent, intelligence information has revealed that instructional manuals detailing the intentional contamination of the food supply are available to known terrorist groups.

Thus, the new resource provides a range of preventive measures that companies may choose to implement to better protect their facility, personnel, products, and operations. It is designed for companies that produce, process, store, package, distribute, and/or transport food or food ingredients.

MSD offers numerous mitigation strategies for the various vulnerabilities identified ranging in complexity and cost. The FDA recommends that each company select the appropriate mitigations that best fit its needs.

In the MSD, the recommended safety measures are organized into categories and sub-categories called nodes that address each step of the food production and distribution process.

Some of the categories in the database are:

• Materials
• Packaging
• Processing
• Storage

The nodes (i.e., critical points, and/or steps) under each category provide a range of preventive measures that pertain to one specific aspect of food production and distribution.

For example, some of the nodes under the category Processing are:

• Filler
• Harvest
• Make-up tank
• Mixer
• Tanker truck filler

View the tool at FDA.