Food defense

Food risk matrix[1]
Consequence
 Gain: economic Food quality Food fraud
Harm: Public health, economic, or terror Food safety Food defense
Unintentional Intentional
Action

Food defense is the protection of food products from intentional contamination or adulteration by biological, chemical, physical, or radiological agents introduced for the purpose of causing harm. It addresses additional concerns including physical, personnel and operational security.[2]

Food defense is one of the four categories of the food protection risk matrix[1] which include: food safety, which is based on unintentional or environmental contamination that can cause harm; food fraud, which is based on intentional deception for economic gain; and food quality, which may also be affected by profit-driven behavior but without intention to cause harm.

Overarching these four categories is food security, which deals with individuals having access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food protection is the umbrella term encompassing both food defense and food safety. These six terms are often conflated.

Along with protecting the food system, food defense also deals with prevention, protection, mitigation, response and recovery from intentional acts of adulteration.[3]

  1. ^ a b Spink, John; Moyer, Douglas C. (2011-11-01). "Defining the Public Health Threat of Food Fraud". Journal of Food Science. 76 (9): R157–R163. doi:10.1111/j.1750-3841.2011.02417.x. ISSN 1750-3841. PMID 22416717. S2CID 23456390.
  2. ^ "Food Defense and Emergency Response". United States Department of Agriculture.
  3. ^ "What Is Food Defense?". National Center for Food Protection and Defense. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2015-05-29.