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Your Food Defense Plan
September 9, 2011
by Dave Pettigrew, Food Safety Manager for McCloud Services
September is National Food Safety Education Month. All food facilities should be reviewing their food safety processes and providing training for their employees. It is also the tenth anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. The 9-11 attacks quickly changed how our nation’s food industry prepared itself to protect our food supply. This is also a good opportunity to review your food defense plan.
Trade associations, the FDA, and the USDA provide excellent information for the food industry to implement a food defense plan. There are some critical areas that may require assistance outside your company. Part of your food defense plan should include contacts for laboratories, legal counsel, and public relations.
- You should have laboratories available that can test for biological, chemical, and physical hazards. Pathogen testing is usually readily available, but chemical and physical testing may not be readily accessible. You can contact local hospitals and verify the capabilities of their laboratories for chemical analyses.
- You should have legal counsel on your staff or on retainer that has experience with food security procedures, recalls, and working with regulators. Most cases of intentional contamination of food are caused by disgruntled employees. You may also need assistance with the appropriate legal counsel for this situation.
- You should have a public relations specialist on staff or on retainer. If you need to initiate a recall, you will need assistance with writing and issuing the recall notice. Once the recall notice is issued, you will need a public relations specialist to manage the media inquiries.
Your food defense plan needs to be tested, reviewed, and updated at least once a year. A food security issue can be one of the most difficult challenges your food safety team will manage. The task can be overwhelming if you do not have a written program that has been properly planned and tested.
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