Exploiting Katrina to Protect Against Food Terrorism

Newswise — An effective, coordinated response will be critical to restoring safety and normalcy in the event of a terrorist attack on the U.S. food supply or a large-scale food contamination caused by natural disaster. This is according to research sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security compiled with data from Hurricane Katrina, other disasters and domestic terrorism and to be presented here at the Food Protection and Defense Research Conference.

Hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists and Homeland Security's National Center for Food Protection and Defense, the conference November 3-4 will include presentations by Melvin Bernstein, Ph.D., and Omar Keith Helferich, Ph.D.

Bernstein oversees programs that focus on combating terrorism as part of the overall DHS research, education and industry outreach effort. His group is responsible for several DHS Centers of Excellence including one addressing foreign animal diseases and another on issues related to intentional food contamination. His keynote address will be Thursday, Nov. 3.

Helferich is a researcher with the National Center for Food Protection and Defense and most recently an assistant director of logistics for the American Red Cross during the early response to Katrina. His presentation will draw upon experience with Katrina recovery and with the Oklahoma City and World Trade Center attacks, and focus upon food supply chain security initiatives now being developed. His address will be Friday, November 4.

The IFT Food Protection and Defense Research Conference will also feature sessions directed by other leaders with the National Center for Food Protection and Defense, the National Center for Zoonotic and Foreign Animal Disease Defense, the Food Safety Research and Response Network, and elsewhere.

Conference sessions will include: Detection/Diagnostics, Decontamination, Public Response Coordination, Modeling/Risk Assessment, Economic Analysis of Events and Response, and more.

The U.S food supply system is extremely complex: 200,000 companies contribute to the U.S. food supply; 900,000 restaurants employ 12 million employees; 100 million cattle are raised in 49 states; food accounts for 13 percent of the gross national product; agricultural accounts for $1 trillion annually and $50 billion in exports.

For more on this IFT National Center for Food Protection and Defense research conference at Atlanta's Marriott Marquis Hotel, see http://www.ift.org/fooddefense.

Founded in 1939, the Institute of Food Technologists is a non-profit scientific society with 22,000 members working in food science, technology and related professions in industry, academia and government. As the society for food science and technology, IFT brings sound science to the public discussion of food issues. IFT World Headquarters are located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. For more on IFT, see http://www.ift.org.