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Bioterrorism Risk to Food: Cause for Concern But Not Panic
 Auburn,
February 7, 2003
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The World Health Organization’s recent warning about potential
bioterrorist threats to the food supply is cause for concern but not
panic, says one expert.
In a 45-page special report, the WHO, the United Nation’s health
agency, warned that terrorist groups may ultimately target national
food supplies and has advised national governments around the world
to take adequate precautions.
It
sounds scary enough. But how serious is the threat?
It
is a threat, says Dr. Jean Weese, and Alabama Cooperative Extension
System food scientist and Auburn University associate professor of
food science. But considering the size and complexity of the
American food-processing system, she believes the chances of a
knockout blow to the nation’s food supply following a bioterrorist
attack are probably remote.
One
thing working in Americans’ favor not only is the size of its food
system but the rigorous safeguards that already have been put in
place along the distribution chain – many of which were around long
before the 9/11 attacks.
If
you want to affect masses of people -- which is what the terrorists
typically want to do -- you would probably have to get into several
food-processing plants,” Weese says. “Yes, it could be done, but
pulling it off would be a real feat.”
“Just consider the plants that supply meat to McDonald’s,” Weese
says. “You don’t just have one processing plant, but many – one for
the West, the Midwest, the Southeast and so on.”
“So
even if you manage to contaminate one, you’ll never succeed in
getting them all.”
Aside from that, Weese says, virtually all of these plants operate
like sealed fortresses, cordoned off by fences and monitored by
security guards who carefully screen who comes and goes.
“When you visit a processing plant, you typically have to tell the
guard who you are, where you’re from, and what purpose you have in
there,” Weese says. “And even then, to get into the processing area,
you typically have to put on special clothing.”
“So,
as I said, it is possible for a bioterrorist act to occur in one of
these facilities, but it’s not a simple matter of walking right in
and dropping the contaminant in the food.”
Indeed, since the 9/11 tragedy, many processing plants are
enforcing even stricter rules – a fact Weese has encountered
firsthand in the course of organizing plant tours for her food
science students.
“Some plants are now so strict that they won’t even allow most
visitors into the facility,” she says. “It’s partly because of the
chance one of them could get hurt but also because of concerns that
contamination could occur.”
“Some plants are even requiring visitors to give their names,
personal addresses and, in some cases, even their social security
numbers so that they can be more easily tracked down in the event a
problem occurs.”
Aside from the internal plant procedures, processors also maintain
strict rules for food products coming out of the plant.
“Seals generally are placed on the trucks carrying products out of
the plant and are not broken until the driver reaches his
destination,” Weese says. “And if these seals are broken for
whatever reason, the company to which the products are being shipped
typically won’t accept them.”
Major food processors, almost without exception, also subject their
foods to onerous safety standards, Weese says. In Alabama, for
example, a peanut processor that supplies national companies such as
Baskin-Robbins and Keebler tests every batch of processed peanuts to
ensure that residual levels of microorganisms do not exceed a
certain level. Products that exceed this level are discarded.
The
type of food products most vulnerable to bioterrorism remains
unprocessed foods, such as raw fruits and vegetables. But even
these products most often are subjected to random testing along the
food distribution chain.
“If
they’ve been shipped in from overseas, they’ll typically undergo
random testing at the port into which they’ve been shipped,” Weese
says. “And since the vast majority of these products will end up in
retail outlets, you can almost rest assured that these retail
companies have a system in place for random testing as well.”
(Source:
Dr. Jean Weese, Extension Food
Scientist and Auburn
University
Associate Professor of Nutrition and Food Science, 334-844-3269.)
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