FDA courses offer first line of food defense

Entitled Food Defense 101, the revamped courses have been updated to address the different kinds of intentional contamination that have been reported inside American borders in recent years. The courses also include up-to-date FDA intelligence on how to block or minimize the impact of such incidents, should they occur.

The courses now are integrated into one module, a move designed to make it easier for food companies to quickly locate specific information. The program consists of four separate, targeted programs:

• Food Defense Awareness for the Food Professional:​ This is intended to impart food processing and manufacturing companies with a general understanding of food defense. It discusses various aspects of food defense, planning including broad mitigation strategies, vulnerability assessments, focused mitigation strategies, and food defense plans.
• Food Defense Awareness for Front-line Employees:​ This segments delivers guidance targeted to front-line workers and simple procedures for these employees to follow in food defense. The FIRST initiative, which emphasizes that Employees are the FIRST Line of Food Defense, is provided in both English and Spanish. 
• FDA Regulations:​ This course presents the three FDA Regulations that have been developed to address the safety of our nation's food supply and their impact on the food industry.
• ALERT:​ Developed by the FDA to help stakeholders better understand food defense and how food defense applies to the food industry, this segment has been updated to include Food Safety Modernization Act guidance and provides specific examples on ways to protect a firm from the threat of intentional contamination. ALERT is available in English and Spanish; additional languages are planned.

To access the free course, visit the FDA’s Food Defense 101 website here.​