Food Defense Plan
Immediately address threats to food production and proactively guard against intentional contamination.
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Published December 21st, 2020
What is Food Defense?
Food defense is the process of protecting food products from intentional adulteration or contamination which aims to harm consumers, business establishments, or the general public. Food defense is crucial in proactively implementing programs that help avoid food safety incidents, costly recalls, and disruptions in food production.
This article will briefly discuss:
- what is a food defense plan?;
- what makes an effective food defense plan?;
- example of a food defense plan;
- food defense system to help ensure the proper monitoring of the plan implementation; and
- free food defense plan templates you can use to address threats to food defense.
What is a Food Defense Plan?
A food defense plan is a tool used by quality managers to help prevent the intentional contamination of food products. Food defense plans are often associated with food defense programs as a practical guide for mitigating incidents caused by intentional food contamination.
How to Develop a Food Defense Plan
Adapted from the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), a food defense plan can be effective in preventing food contamination through the following steps:
-
Planning
Form a team that will create a food defense plan based on assessments of vulnerable critical control points in food production and handling (related: TACCP). There are also tools available (FDA’s food defense plan builder) that can help build a customized food defense plan.
-
Implementation
It is critical to engage the employees and get their buy-in when implementing a food defense plan. Conduct employee trainings and meet with stakeholders to implement processes that proactively promotes the safety of food products.
-
Internal monitoring and analyzation
Perform internal audits to catch gaps or non-conformance with the implementation of a food defense plan. Analyze food safety inspections to determine the most common non-conforming items and discover areas for improvement in food defense.
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Continuous improvement
Review the food defense plan at least once a year. Based on audit reports, industry best practices, and the latest regulations on food safety, determine if the food defense plan needs to be updated or improve how it is implemented to keep up with new and changing threats to food defense.
Food Defense Plan Example
To help you get started with a proactive approach to food defense, presented below is a snapshot of a sample food defense plan:
Area |
Vulnerability |
Food Defense Solution |
|
Outside Security |
Potential tampering of incoming shipments |
Careful examination of incoming raw materials (e.g. incoming inspection) |
|
Inside Security |
Suspicious packages and unexpected inventory changes |
Establish SOP for reporting to appropriate personnel |
|
Personnel Security |
Lack of awareness to security measures |
Periodic food defense training |
|
Incident Response Security |
Product spoilage due to equipment failure |
Upgrade food defense system with preventive alerts (e.g. temperature and humidity sensors by SafetyCulture) |
Food Defense System: Harnessing Smart Technology
With the goal of food defense to keep food products safe from threats of intentional contamination, it is important to ensure that its implementation is consistently monitored and documented. As a food defense system, iAuditor by SafetyCulture can help quality managers reinforce the proper implementation of food defense through streamlined and paperless monitoring and reporting.
- Schedule inspections and conduct internal audits using mobile-ready food safety checklists and food defense plan templates
- Take photos and describe food safety issues using the app
- Proactively address urgent issues found and receive updates on assigned corrective actions.
- Save time and reduce costs by generating paperless reports on the spot
- Use for free with small teams; unlimited reports and storage for premium accounts
Featured Food Defense Plan Templates
Food Defense Plan Template
A food defense plan template is a tool used to proactively determine if the organization has an effective defense against the intentional contamination of food products. Derived from the FSIS, this digitized food defense plan template covers 4 sections:
- Outside Security Measures
- Inside Security Measures
- Personnel Security Measures
- Incident Response Security Measures
Food Defense Checklist
This food defense checklist was digitized based on the USDA’s checklist for warehouses and distribution centers. This checklist uses yes-no-n/a response set to confirm if the following areas are covered: outside security, general inside security, shipping and receiving, mail handling, and personnel.
Food Defense Checklist Template
This food defense checklist template is created for establishments that serve food products to customers. Evaluate the food defense established for the facility, employees, supplies, food preparation, and cleaning. Easily customize this template using iAuditor’s drag-and-drop template editor to meet business-specific food preparation requirements.
Food Defense Assessment Template
A food defense assessment template can be based on the TACCP risk assessment in order to assess risks at each critical control point of food production. Determine if a hazard is biological, chemical, physical, or radiological and identify the risk rating.
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