WASHINGTON (voa) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is recommending new guidelines to protect the nation’s food supply against possible tampering by terrorists.
The suggestions are aimed at every step in the food chain, from importers to farmers, food processors, stores and restaurants that could be vulnerable in a bioterrorist attack.
Measures that are recommended include running food service employees through criminal and immigration status checks, safeguarding water supplies, and patrolling restaurant salad bars. Other suggestions include carefully watching employees who stay at work unusually late and try to get access to information outside their areas of responsibility.
Recommendations are divided into those for importers and those for the domestic food industry. The FDA developed them with help from the Food Security Alliance, a consortium of food trade associations.
The FDA says the guidelines published in Wednesday’s Federal Register were prompted by last year’s terrorist attacks and growing concerns over food safety.
The agency cannot compel the U.S. food industry to comply with these guidelines, but it says it expects broad cooperation.
The most recently reported terror attack on U.S. food occurred during the 1980s when a cult in Oregon contaminated salad bars with salmonella bacteria. Experts say fresh produce may be the most vulnerable to possible bioterrorist tampering because it is often eaten raw and is subject to little government inspection.
