Terrorist Threats To Food Guidance For Establishing And Strengthening Prevention And Response Systems

The malicious contamination of food for terrorist purposes is a real and current threat, and deliberate contamination of food at one location could have global public health implications. This book responds to increasing concern in WHO s Member States that chemical, biological or radio-nuclear agents might be used deliberately to harm civilian populations and that food might be a vehicle for disseminating such agents. The two major strategies for countering the threat of food sabotage are prevention and response, including preparedness. Chapter 1 introduces the problem and places it in the context of other food safety emergencies. Chapter 2 outlines the preventive aspects that can be incorporated into food safety programs to meet the new threat of food sabotage. Chapter 3 addresses the surveillance, preparedness and response elements specific to food safety, to facilitate their inclusion in existing national emergency response plans and to achieve balance between threats to food safety and other threats. In chapter 4, the current activities of WHO in this regard and a proposal for strengthening collaboration to assure more effective alert and response systems for food terrorism are presented. Establishment and strengthening of food safety programs will both increase Member States capacity to reduce the increasing burden of food-borne illness and help them to address the threat of food terrorism.World Health Organisation Staff is the author of 'Terrorist Threats To Food Guidance For Establishing And Strengthening Prevention And Response Systems', published 2003 under ISBN 9789241545846 and ISBN 9241545844.