Dive Brief:
- While terrorism is often associated with extreme, violent attacks, the food and beverage industry is vulnerable to intentional contamination, an FBI agent said during the Food Safety Consortium last week, Food Safety Tech reported.
- The FBI named several potential food-industry related targets for terrorism, including food processing facilities, food storage and distribution, restaurants, grocery stores, markets, commercial facilities and cruise lines.
- The FBI stressed that there is no imminent threat of terrorism to the food industry. But the agency did warn about the dangers of an insider threat, or someone "who exploits his/her position, credentials or employment to achieve trusted access to the means, processes, equipment, material, location, facility and/or target necessary to carry out a terrorist action."
Dive Insight:
The FBI exemplifies an insider threat as "a disgruntled employee who has or can gain access to equipment or other areas of a facility that would otherwise be secure and then introduce contaminants into food products," according to Food Safety Tech.
That said, companies should continue running their businesses without basing all decisions around potential terrorism threats. But a valid consideration would be to immediately revoke the security or access privileges of employees to products and facilities once their employment is terminated. This can lower the risk of a disgruntled employee's possibly harmful backlash against innocent and uninvolved consumers.
Company executives should take note of the FBI's guidance, as they are likely to bear the brunt of food safety issues that stem from their company's products. Generally the executives in question are knowledgeable about these issues beforehand. But gross negligence is becoming more permissible in courts as a reason to put executives on trial.