Course Objectives

 Identify components of food defense

 Identify Risk Communication best practices
 Identify elements of food terrorism
Food Terrorism
An act or threat of deliberate contamination of food for human consumption
with chemical, biological or radio-nuclear agents for the purpose of causing
injury or death to civilian populations and/or creating social, economic or
political instability. (Source: World Health Organization Food Safety Issues
2002)

The deliberate act of contamination or threat of contamination can occur at

any point from the farm to the consumer.

This topic includes:

Food terrorism incidents
Food system vulnerabilities
Food terrorism perpetrators
Agents and tactics used to contaminate a food supply
Impact of and public reaction to a food terrorism incident
Some incidents in the past:

1. 1984 Salad Bar Incident

The Dalles, Oregon

Members of the religious cult the Rajneeshees attempted to gain political

control of Wasco County, Oregon, in the city of The Dalles.

Followers of Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh deliberately

contaminated salad bars at ten restaurants with salmonella. The purpose
of the attack was to disrupt a local election by incapacitating so many
voters that their own candidates would win. 751 people became ill after
eating the contaminated food.
2. 1989 Chilean Fruit Incident (United States)

The American Embassy in Santiago, Chile, received two telephone calls in early
March, warning that Chilean fruit shipped to the United States had been
poisoned.

FDA inspectors tightened inspections of Chilean produce entering the United

States and on March 12, 1989, cyanide was found in two seedless red grapes
taken from a ship docked in Philadelphia, PA.

The next day, the FDA urged consumers not to buy Chilean fruit and ordered dock
workers not to unload Chilean fruit aboard ships. The ban was lifted four days
later, after another test on the same two grapes failed to detect cyanide.

As a result, sales of Chilean fruit around the world dropped and Chilean fruit
growers lost $210 million dollars.
3. 2002 Coca-Cola* Poisoning Plot, Jerusalem, Israel

Three Jerusalem Palestinians linked to the terrorist organization Hamas were

arrested in Jerusalem for allegedly planning a mass poisoning of Israeli patrons at a
local cafe.

The suspects confessed to plotting to lace pitchers of Coca Cola at a popular cafe
with a tasteless, odourless poisonous substance that would cause death 15 hours
after being ingested.

One of the suspects was employed as a cook in a restaurant where the terrorist cell
had planned to poison the patrons.

All three suspects were arrested by Israel's Shin Beth internal security services as
they were about to test their poison on cats in the neighbourhood.

* Copyright 2007 The Coca-Cola Company, all rights reserved. Coca-Cola® and the
contour bottle are registered trademarks of The Coca-Cola Company.
Food System Vulnerabilities

VULNERABILITY EFFECT

Large Batches Large Number of Consumers

Small Quantity Consumption Mass Contamination with Minimal Effort

Shorter Shelf Life

Minimal time to Identify
Uniform Mixing
Problem and Intervene
Ability to Disguise

Low Risk of Perpetrator

Ease of Access to Food Supply
Being Detected, Caught or Accidentally
Absence of Tamper Evident Packaging
Contaminated
Food Terrorism Agents

Agent categories are based on:-

Ease of dissemination or transmission

Morbidity

Mortality rates

Public health impact

Potential for public anxiety or social disruption

Food Terrorism Agents Classification – Category A
Contains Highest Priority Risk Agents

These agents pose a risk to national security because they:

Can be easily disseminated or transmitted from person to person
Result in high mortality rates
Have a potential for major public health impact
Might cause public panic and social disruption
Require special action for public health preparedness

Examples of such agents:

Anthrax
Botulism
Plague
Smallpox
Food Terrorism Agents Classification – Category B
Contains the Second Highest Priority Agents

Category B agents are:

Are moderately easy to disseminate
Result in moderate morbidity rates & low mortality rates
Require specific enhancements of CDCs diagnostic capacity and enhanced disease
surveillance

Examples of such agents:

E. coli
Ricin
Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB)
Food Terrorism Agents Classification – Category C
Contains the third highest priority agents

Includes emerging pathogens that could be engineered for mass dissemination in

the future because of:
Availability
Ease of production and dissemination
Potential for high morbidity and mortality rates
Major health impact

Examples of diseases caused by this category agents include:

Nipah virus
Hantavirus
 Food Terrorism Perpetrators

Some incidents of deliberate food contamination:

1.Criminals (October 1996, Dallas, Texas)

2.Disgruntled Employee (December, 2002, Grand Rapids, Michigan)
3.Business Competitors (September, 2002, Tangshan, China)
4.Terrorists
1. Criminals
(October 1996, Dallas, Texas)
Lab workers at a large medical center received an e-mail inviting them to eat
blueberry muffins and doughnuts in the company break room. Twelve workers
accepted the invitation.

Several hours later, three of the workers experienced severe gastrointestinal illness.
Over the next 31 hours, nine more workers reported similar symptoms. Four workers
were hospitalized.

A criminal investigation revealed that a lab employee tainted the pastries with
shigella dysenteriae, a rare organism that causes bacillary dysentrey.

The perpetrator later confessed and served jail time for the crime.
2. Disgruntled Employee
(December, 2002, Grand Rapids, Michigan)
A 39 year old male supermarket employee laced approximately 250 pounds of
ground beef with Black Leaf 40, a nicotine-based pesticide. He poured the oil-like
substance on the beef as it was prepared and then packaged the poisoned meat for
sale.

One hundred eleven people, including 35 children, became ill after eating the tainted
meat.

This deliberate contamination was an act of retaliation by a disgruntled employee

trying to get his boss in trouble.

The employee pled guilty to a charge of poisoning food with the intent to cause
serious bodily injury and was sentenced to nine years in prison, three years of
supervised release and was ordered to pay restitution of more than $12,000.
3. Business Competitors
(September, 2002, Tangshan, China)
Nearly 40 people died and at least 300 were hospitalized when a fast food
restaurant owner added rat poison to a competitor's food.

The perpetrator, Chen Zhenping, confessed to carrying out the poisonings out of
jealousy, as his own restaurant was not as successful as that of his competitor.

A court in eastern China sentenced Zhenping to death.

4. Terrorists
In 1970, a Kenyan newspaper reported that opponents of the Amin regime
threatened to poison Uganda's coffee and tea crops in order to deny the
government foreign exchange.
Food Terrorism Tactics (1 of 4)

1. Covert Entry

Covert entry may include:

Using stealth methods to get past security personnel and equipment to gain
access
Overriding an electronic security system to get through an armed door
Food Terrorism Tactics (2 of 4)

2. Insider Conspiracy

Tactics involving insider involvement include:

Using a contact inside the facility who permits the perpetrator to enter
(typically during off hours)
Using insider information (e.g., details of delivery, shipment and security) to
allow perpetrators to contaminate or disrupt unattended food supplies
An existing employee (e.g., a disgruntled employee) who may deliberately
contaminate the food supply
Food Terrorism Tactics (3 of 4)

3. Exterior Attack

An exterior attack may include:

Hijacking delivery trucks in order to disrupt food distribution
Contaminating raw materials that are entering the facility from the outside
Food Terrorism Tactics (4 of 4)

4. Forced Entry

Forced entry may involve:

Cutting a hole in a fence to gain access to a food supply
Breaking a lock on a shipment container in order to contaminate the contents
Entering a restaurant or supermarket through the window for the purpose of
deliberate food contamination
Impact of Food Terrorism (1 of 4)
1. Illness and Death

Food terrorism can be devastating to human health.

Examples of large scale unintentional outbreaks of foodborne disease include:

1985: Contamination of pasteurized milk from an American dairy plant caused

an outbreak of S. typhimurium infection that affected 170,000 people.

1991: The consumption of clams in Shanghai, China resulted in an outbreak of

hepatitis A, affecting nearly 300,000 people.

Given that a large scale outbreak can harm so many people, the estimated
impact of a deliberate contamination is staggering.
Impact of Food Terrorism (2 of 4)
2. Economic Distress

Food terrorism can have a serious impact on the economy and trade relations.
Industries could be put out of business. Countries could experience harsh economic
and trade disruptions.

For example, the 1989 Chilean fruit ban resulted in several hundred million dollars
in damage and was responsible for the bankruptcy of more than 100 growers and
shippers.

In 1998, an American company recalled 14 million kilograms of hot dogs and lunch
meats potentially contaminated with Listeria. The parent company had to close the
plant and estimated their total cost to be $50-70 million.

Food terrorism has an enormous financial impact on the food industry, consumers
and the public
Impact of Food Terrorism (3 of 4)
3. Public Health Services

A food terrorism incident could paralyze public health services.

Although not a foodborne terrorism incident, the 1995 Tokyo subway system
attack, in which commuters were exposed to nerve gas, is a good example of how a
terrorist attack can impact public health services. The Tokyo attack caused 12
deaths and injured 5,000 people.
The emergency response was prompt and included the dispatch of 131 ambulances
and 1,364 emergency technicians. Emergency medical and fire services transported
668 people to hospitals, while an additional 4,000 people struggled to find their
own way to overcrowded hospitals with a limited number of doctors.
Impact of Food Terrorism (4 of 4)
4. Social and Political Implications

Terrorists' motivations range from revenge to political destabilization.

Terrorists may target the general population to create panic and threaten civil
order. For example, the post 9-11 scare in which anthrax was sent through the U.S.
postal system showed that while a limited dissemination of a biological agent can
cause few cases of illness, it can cause considerable disruption and public anxiety.
Consequently, the public may lose confidence in the political system and
government, which may result in political destabilization.
Food Terrorism Costs
Public Reactions

Possible public reactions include:

Fear
Denial
Panic
Fear ∆

When someone first learns about a new and potentially serious risk, the natural,
healthy and useful reaction is fear.

Fear often:
Is automatic
Comes early
Is temporary

Sometimes, fear may lead to over-reaction. When people over-react, they tend to
pause, become hyper-vigilant, personalize the risk and take extra precautions.
For example, many people may over-react and refuse to even buy a particular
product because of a Risk involved even if the Risk is a very minor one. In such
cases, the awareness (Communication) has to be spread about the product, the risks
involved, the risks identified, and the possible causes and effects (in this case, the
effects are negligible).
Denial ∆

Heightened fear leads to denial and the refusal to acknowledge the risk.

In denial, people refuse to take appropriate precautions as they do not recognize

the risk.

Denial is
Less common than fear
More common response than panic
Reduced when the fear is legitimized, a direction of action is given or a decision
has been made
Panic ∆

Panic is a feeling of fear that prevents reasonable thought or action. While panicky
feelings are common (and transitory), panic is rare.

Panic occurs when you are so afraid you'd go to extremes to get out of a situation.
Psychiatrists tell us that panic is most likely to occur when people are under the
influence of drugs or alcohol or deprived of basic needs like food and water. For
example, drunken fans at a European soccer game panicked after fighting broke out,
crushing numerous spectators in the exit tunnels.

In contrast, in the three impacted cities during the 2001 anthrax mail scare, the
majority of people did not panic, as shown by the following statistics.
1% purchased gas masks
5% purchased antibiotic prescriptions (80% did not take prescriptions)
98% opened mail as usual
3% consulted a doctor about anxiety

Panic is more of an attention-getting headline in the media or it is portrayed in the

movies.
 Food Defense
Food defense involves activities associated with protecting the nation's food
supply from deliberate acts of contamination or tampering.

The goals of food defense are:

To prevent a food terrorism attack
To respond to a food terrorism attack rapidly and efficiently and,
To recover from a food terrorism attack quickly while restoring consumer
confidence in the food supply.

Federal agencies involved in food defense include

USDA Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS)
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)
USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)