The Food Defense Mitigation Strategies Database (MSD)1 is one of several tools developed by the FDA for the food industry to help protect our nation’s food supply from deliberate acts of contamination or tampering. This resource is designed for companies that produce, process, store, package, distribute, and/or transport food or food ingredients. The MSD provides a range of preventive measures that companies may choose to implement to better protect their facility, personnel, products, and operations.
Background
The FDA is committed to improving the safety and security of the food and cosmetic supply. In 2007 FDA published five guidance documents detailing security preventative measures for all components of the food supply chain, including cosmetics processors and transporters (http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodDefense/FoodSecurity/default.htm2). More recently, FDA has made available food defense tools which allow companies to conduct vulnerability assessments, and determine suitable mitigation approaches.
3 Key Steps to Food Defense
1. Conducting a vulnerability assessment
CARVER + Shock3 is one example of a vulnerability assessment tool which will help industries, States, and Multi-State Consortia build a safer, less vulnerable food supply chain.
2. Identifying appropriate mitigation strategies
The FDA has developed a searchable Food Defense Mitigation Strategies Database4 that:
- Focuses on agriculture, manufacturing, and retail/foodservice
- Contains a range of preventative measures for industry to consider
- Data can be easily searched by key words, or nodes, commonly used within the agriculture and commercial/retail food industries (i.e. harvesting, production, distribution)
- Suggested mitigation strategies were compiled from guidance documents, peer-reviewed literature, and industry input.
See examples of how to use the Food Defense Mitigations Strategies Database.
3. Implementing a mitigation approach
Implement preventative measures that may reduce the likelihood of an attack. MSD offers numerous mitigation strategies for the various vulnerabilities identified ranging in complexity and cost. Each company should select the appropriate mitigations that best fit the company’s needs.
Source: FDA
