title: Developing a national food defense guideline based on a vulnerability assessment of intentional food contamination in Japanese food factories using the CARVER+Shock vulnerability assessment tool.
abstract: The awareness of food terrorism has increased following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, United States, and many measures and policies dealing with this issue have been established worldwide. Suspected deliberate food-poisoning crimes have occurred in Japan, although they are not regarded as acts of food terrorism. One area of concern is that the small- to medium-sized companies that dominate Japan's food industry are extremely vulnerable to deliberate food poisoning. We conducted a literature research on food defense measures undertaken by the World Health Organization and in the United States and Europe. Using the Carver+Shock vulnerability assessment tool, eight food factories and related facilities in Japan were evaluated and we found the level of awareness of food defense to be low and the measures inappropriate. On the basis of this evaluation, we developed a set of guidelines that Japanese food companies can use to help develop their food defense strategies and to serve as a reference in considering specific measures.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Public Health, Health Management, and Policy, Nara Medical University , Kashihara City, Japan .
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kanagawa
authors.forename: Manabu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akahane
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Onitake
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takaya
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Imamura
mesh_terms: D005506:Food Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019649:Food Industry / Q000592:standards*; D059022:Food Safety; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D007564:Japan; D018570:Risk Assessment; D023481:Terrorism