A risk assessment of the food supply chain: vulnerability against terrorist or criminal contamination

  1. Alvarez, M.J. 1
  2. Alvarez, A. 1
  3. Giacomo, M. De 2
  4. Maggio, M.C. De 3
  5. Onori, R. 2
  6. Oses, A. 1
  7. Sarriegi, J.M.
  8. Setola, R. 3
  9. Trombetta, M. 3
  1. 1 Universidad de Navarra
    info

    Universidad de Navarra

    Pamplona, España

    ROR https://ror.org/02rxc7m23

  2. 2 Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy
  3. 3 Università Campus Bio-Medico
    info

    Università Campus Bio-Medico

    Roma, Italia

    ROR https://ror.org/04gqx4x78

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Revista:
International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health

ISSN: 1479-3911,  1479-392X

Ano de publicación: 2011

Volume: 4

Número: 1

Páxinas: 63 - 82

Tipo: Artigo

DOI: 10.1504/IJFSNPH.2011.042575 GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso aberto editor

Outras publicacións en: International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health

Resumo

The food supply chain has been recognised by the USA and the EU as a critical infrastructure, and it should be considered a target for possible terrorist attacks. In this paper, we present a methodological approach developed within the EU project SecuFood to evaluate the risk associated with this threat. The usefulness of the approach is related to the improvement of the analysis of food supply chain risk in terms of the potential threats, the vulnerability of the system, and the effectiveness of counter measures. The followed approach is based on identifying biological and chemical hazards, analysing those biological and chemical agents, and determining the risk level they present in the main phases of the food supply chain. We consider the feasibility of an attack (what we call likelihood), taking into account the accessibility and manageability of the contamination agents, the vulnerability of the supply chain for specific products, and the possible adverse consequences.