foodbiosecurity

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Food Biosecurity

Applied Food Safety Education Lab Course III

July 6-8/2011

SDSU Extension

Health and Nutritional Sciences

Is There a Problem?

“For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do so”

Secretary Tommy Thompson-press conference announcing his resignation, December 2004

2www.fns.usda.gov/fns/safety/pdf/food-defense-training

What is Food Biosecurity?

The term “food biosecurity” relates to the protection of food from bioterrorism. Bioterrorism is the intentional use of biological and chemical agents for the purpose of causing harm. Some government agencies are using the term “food security” instead of “food biosecurity.”

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www.cals.ncsu.edu/an_sci/extension/dairy/Earhardt%20talk

What is Food Biosecurity?

The protection from the deliberate introduction of a dangerous substance into food. It may be perpetrated at any level in the food chain by an organized terrorist group, a lone “copy cat” individual or the result of criminal activity. Attacks are usually focused on a food commodity, process, company or business.

www.dpi.state.wi.us/fns/ppt/fd_biosecurity4

What Foods at Risk?

Infant formula

Baby food

Milk

Yogurt

Ice cream

Soft drinks

Water, bottled

produce

Canned food

Honey

Peanut butter

Seafood, cooked

Deli salad

Fruit juices

Flour

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What Agents Might be Used?

Biological

Heat resistant bacteria (e.g., Bacillus anthrax)

Heat sensitive bacteria (e.g., Salmonella)

Heat resistant bacteria toxins (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus toxin)

Heat sensitive bacteria toxins (e.g., Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin)

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What Agents Might be Used?

Chemical

Water soluble, heat resistant chemicals (e.g., cyanide)

Lipid soluble, heat resistant chemicals (e.g., dioxin)

Lipid soluble, heat sensitive chemicals (e.g., ricin)

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Terrorism

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Bioterrorism

Biological agents targeting humans, animals, plants Bacteria Viruses Fungi Rickettsia Toxins

www.wvdhsem.gov/SERC/Conference07/SERC_ 07_ag%20...

Agroterrorism

Biological, chemical, or radiological agents, targeting agriculture or its components Livestock Food supply Crops Industry workers

Others

Conventional, radiological, nuclear, chemical

Advantages of Biologics as

Weapons

Infectious via aerosol, GI

Organisms fairly stable in environment

High morbidity and mortality

Person-to-person transmission (e.g., smallpox)

Difficult to diagnose and/or treat

Attack and effect are not simultaneous, perpetrators escape easily

Inexpensive to produce

Potential global effect (more and faster transportation)

Creates panic

Can overwhelm medical services

Variety of victims: man, animal, crops

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Biological Warfare in History

Hannibal used wine containers filled with poisonous snakes against enemies

Tartars hurl plaque-ridden corpses over city walls of Kaffa (what is now Ethiopia)

Use of ergot to poison wells in the 6th century BC

Athenians poisoning of Kirrha (590 BC)

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Biological Warfare in History

1763: British troops infect native Americans with smallpox-laden gifts

WW I German program; anthrax

WW II Japanese program; anthrax, plague, cholera, shigella

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History: Recent Examples

1969: Nixon ends BW program

1978: Ricin (castor bean) assassination in London

On August 29, 1984, Indian religious Rajneeshee cultists give water laced with Salmonella to two county commissioners.

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In September, the Rajneeshee cult contaminates salad bars of The Dalles, OR and Wasco County, OR with Salmonella. Over 750 are poisoned and 40 hospitalized.

The purpose is to influence the outcome of a local election. It is only discovered a year later when members of the cult turned informants.

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1995

Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese religious cult obsessed with the apocalypse

Released deadly Sarin nerve gas into the Tokyo subway system

Killing 12 people and sending more than 5,000 others to hospitals.

Attack came at the peak of the Monday morning rush hour in one of the busiest commuter systems in the world.

Witnesses said that subway entrances resembled battlefields as injured commuters lay gasping on the ground with blood gushing from their noses or mouths.

http://cfrterrorism.org/groups/aumshinrikyo.html


2001 Anthrax-laced letters sent through the mail killing 5

people. Seventeen others developed symptoms, but recovered.

Most of the cases are linked to mail passing through NJ, NY, or Washington, D.C.

Estimated 10,000 people were placed on antibiotics.

Attorney General John Ashcroft released the text from the anthrax letters sent to Daschle, Brokaw, and the NY Post.

For less than $5.00 in mailing costs Our government was shut down

There were 11 cases of pulmonary anthrax with 5 deaths

There were 5 cases of cutaneous anthrax

Thousands of people received an unnecessary 60 days of prophylactic antibiotic treatment

Caused billions in response costs

Caused fear and panic among the general population


September 19, 2003 – Associated Press

Grand Rapids Michigan

Former supermarket employee poisoned more than 100 people after mixing insecticide into 250 lbs. of ground beef

Health official reported 111 sickened

Sentenced to 9 years in prison

17www.dpi.state.wi.us/fns/ppt/fd_ biosecurity


September 22, 2003 – Progressive Grocer

Port Angeles, Washington

Anonymous letter sent to Safeway store threatening of tampered supermarket products

FBI called in to investigate

Letter submitted to state public health laboratory for bacterial contaminant testing

FBI questioned store employees and beginning to fingerprint them

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The Wisconsin Case

1996 an anonymous call about contaminated fat product added to feed

Chlordane (pesticide) in rendered product supplied to large feed manufacturer and distributed to 4000 farms in four statesMilk and other products from these farms

were potentially contaminated

$4 million just to dispose of products

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Supply Chain

Why Pick Agriculture as a Target?

Food and fiber accounts for ~16.4% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

24 million Americans are employed in some aspect of agriculture

Heavily tied to other industries and sectors (transportation, food retailors, tourism, etc…)

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Why Pick Agriculture as a Target?

Food sector a huge economic engine: $1.24 trillion/year Food system complexity makes contamination a real

risk 2,128,000 farms

30,000 food manufacturing sites (94,000 foreign)

19,000 re-packers/packers (87,000 foreign)

224,000 retail food stores

565,000 food service outlets

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Ten US Ag Export Categories-2009

Soybean 16.9 (all in billions)

Meat and poultry 12.1

Corn 9.7

Other foods 8.1

Fruits and frozen juices 6.9

Animal feed 6.3

Wheat 5.5

Vegetables 4.9

Nuts 4.1

Rice 2.2

2009 Ag exports were 98.6 billion dollars

In 2009, the U.S. agricultural surplus erased 13 percent of our petroleum deficit in trade.The 2009 U.S. trade surplus in agricultural goods was equivalent to 7 percent of the year's total trade deficit.Agriculture represented 1.2% of U.S. 2009 nominal GDP and employed .7% of workers (directly).

bigpictureagriculture.blogspot.com/2010/ 10/us

BioterrorismThreats:

Priority Biological Agents

Bacterial Anthrax

Plague

Tularemia

Brucellosis

Q fever

Other

food borne pathogens

waterborne pathogens

Viral

Smallpox

Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers

Viral Encephalitis

Toxins

Botulism

Staph Enterotoxin B

Ricin toxin

Tricothecene mycotoxins

Overview of Bioterrorism Agents

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Bioterrorism

Category A Biological Disease: can be easily disseminated or transmitted

person-to-person;

cause high mortality, with potential for major public health impact;

might cause public panic and social disruption; and

require special action for public health preparedness.

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Bioterrorism

These agents/diseases include: Clostridium botulinum toxin (botulism)

Yersinia pestis (the plague)

Variola major (smallpox)

Tularemia (Francisella tularensis)

Hemorrhagic fever due to:

Bacillus anthracis (anthrax)

Ebola virus

Marburg virus

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Bioterrorism

Category B Biological Disease: --Second highest priority agent include those that

are moderately easy to disseminate;

cause moderate morbidity and low mortality;

require specific enhancements of CDC's diagnostic capacity and enhanced disease surveillance.

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Bioterrorism

These agents/diseases include: Q fever (Coxiella burnetii)

Brucellosis (undulant fever)

Glanders (Burkholderia mallei)

Ricin toxin (from the castor bean Ricinus communis)

Epsilon toxin of Clostridium perfringens (the gas gangrene bacillus)

Staphylococcus enterotoxin B (staph toxin)

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Bioterrorism

Category C Biological Disease: -- Third highest priority agents include emerging pathogens that could be engineered for mass dissemination in the future because of availability

ease of production and dissemination; and

potential for high morbidity and mortality and major health impact.

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Food Security

Food Safety vs. Food Security

The terms “food safety” and “food security” do not mean the same thing. Food security deals with deliberate contamination of food with the intent of causing harm or disruption.

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Food Biosecurity/Safety

Food SAFETY Unintentional

contamination of food

Mild to serious illness, or even death

Negative business and financial impact

Biological, chemical, or physical agents

Address through training

Food BIOSECURITY Intentional

contamination of food

Mild to serious illness, or even death

Negative business and financial impact

Biological, chemical, physical, nuclear, or radioactive agents

Address through prevention

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Food Security

Food Safety = Quality Control

An example of unintentional contamination was the 1994 contamination of pasteurized liquid ice cream mix with Salmonella enterides. The contamination occurred in a tanker truck that transported unfrozen ice cream mix.

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Food Security

The truck had been contaminated when carrying raw egg mix on backhaul trips. The accidental contamination caused the illness of 224,000 people in 41 states and was traced to Schwan's ice cream, a nationally distributed product.

Biosecurity Management

The series of management steps taken to prevent the introduction of infectious agents into a herd or flock, water or food supply.

Routine Practices Involve: Screening

Testing

Quarantine or isolation of newly purchased or returning animals

Monitoring or evaluation system

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A Biosecurity Checklist for School Foodservice Programs

Keeping our Nation’s food supply safe from terrorism requires a total team effort, with participation from Federal, State, and local governments working with our country’s food and agriculture sectors.

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At the Federal level, FNS will work with the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and other agencies to establish guidance for bolstering the biosecurity of food throughout its journey from farm to table-through transportation, storage, preparation, and service.

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1. Establish a school food-service biosecurity management team

2. Establish a checklist with the "prioritized levels" of measurements needed

3. Add the security measures unique to each school

4. Determine which security measures will be part of the plan

healthymeals.nal.usda.gov/hsmrs/biosecurity38


5. Assign tasks and develop a schedule of target dates for each task

6. Track the progress made; and

7. Continue to maintain and update the biosecurity plan.

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National School Lunch Program (NSLP)

NSLP serves 30 million lunches and nearly 9 million breakfasts per day

Over 100,000 schools and

Over 20,000 school districts participate

Safety record of NSLP is very, very good, but problems do occur

Protections afforded by AMS “aggregate measure of support” only go so far

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www.fns.usda.gov/fns/safety/pdf/food-defense-training

Assemble a Team

Everyone Has a Role in the Safety of

Food

41www.fns.usda.gov/fns/safety/pdf/food-defense-training.pdf

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Food Security

Six agencies in the federal government have primary responsibility for food safety: two agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Food Security

Three agencies under the Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)

Agricultural Research Service (ARS)

Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES)

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

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foodbiosecurity

Documents

protection of food

food chain

food commodity

term food biosecurity

term food security

resistant chemicals

radiological agents

chemical agents