Front-Line Employee's Role in Food Defense

Insider attack/widespread illness

As an example of what can happen when someone intending harm has inside access to a facility, in December 2013 a contract employee at a Japanese food facility intentionally adulterated several frozen foods with the pesticide malathion. Japanese authorities believe the assailant brought malathion to the plant and injected it into frozen foods during the manufacturing process. The employee exploited his access to the food prior to packaging to introduce the agent. The adulteration resulted in at least 2,843 mild foodborne illnesses and a recall of 6.4 million packages of frozen seafood.

 

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