Due to the globalization of the food supply, there exists an increased risk for acts of intentional contamination for socio-economic or political gains, such as food fraud and food terrorism. In recent years there has been an upward trend towards large scale food safety incidents, resulting in significant worldwide public health and financial impacts, such as the "Horsegate" scandal or the Peanut Corporation of America outbreak and recall. The common thread that ties food safety and food defense incident planning, preparedness, response and recovery, is the ability to effectively track and trace products throughout the value chain. The fundamental question this session will explore is that if product traceability during food safety incidents (when contamination agents and suspect foods are known) is currently challenging, then what are the implications of product tracing during a food defense incident (when contamination agents or suspects foods are unknown)? Scientific, regulatory and industry speakers will present perspectives on defining the gaps and challenges associated with global food traceability, the approaches best practices to solving these problems, and the importance of an improved traceability framework to food defense.

Presentations