Military software to help food producers guard against attacks

Food producers can use software developed for the U.S. military to assess their vulnerability to tampering, terrorism, or other criminal attacks.

The risk assessment tool was adapted by the Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture to help farmers and other producers evaluate their supply chains and processes for weaknesses that someone could exploit.

Dr. Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said in a press release that the tool can help producers understand how an attacker may think as well as how to implement countermeasures for weak points.

The tool evaluates the health and economic impact of attacks, ease of reaching potential targets, ease of recovery following an attack, vulnerability to attack, potential production loss following an attack, visibility as a potential target, and psychological impact of an attack. It can be downloaded at fda.gov/food/fooddefense/carver.