Agroterrorism: issues of reality
2004
Zink, D.L.
In the past, deliberate contamination of foods in the U.S. has been committed by individual criminals, disgruntled employees, or political activists with a narrow agenda. After September 11, 2001, every nation has had to consider a much wider range of food security issues. Food is a global commodity and nearly every country both exports and imports foods. Every nation must consider the security of its domestic production and look beyond its borders to its trading partners to assure the safety of its food supply. In the nearly 2 years since September 11, 2001, many steps have been taken to improve food security. New legislation has been enacted to strengthen the ability of government to respond to terrorist threats. New relationships have been forged between food security agencies, law enforcement, and the intelligence community. Virtually every segment of the domestic and imported food supply has come under scrutiny in an effort to identify points of weakness and appropriate protective measures. Gaps in our knowledge about specific agents and food processes have been identified and research to fill these gaps has been initiated. This effort will continue for the foreseeable future and could have a wide range of benefits, including improvements to food safety, a reduction in product counterfeiting, and a reduction in the "gray market" food trade. The scale and diversity of the U.S. food supply makes it an attractive target, but at the same time makes it very resilient and responsive to emerging threats.
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