Food Defense Manager Certification is the effort to protect food from acts of intentional adulteration. In May 2016 FDA issued the final rule on Mitigation Strategies to Protect Food Against Intentional Adulteration with requirements for covered facilities to prepare and implement food defense plans.
FDA works with the private sector and other government agencies on activities related to food defense, including conducting research and analysis, developing and delivering training and outreach, and conducting exercises. In addition, FDA has developed a number of tools and resources to help food facilities prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from acts of intentional adulteration of the food supply.
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Tools & Resources
Food Defense 101 (including ALERT)
The food industry plays an integral part in protecting the nation’s food infrastructure. Food Defense 101 provides training in preparedness against an intentional attack against our food supply. The courses provide an understanding of and guidance for developing a Food Defense Plan(s) based on a common sense approach.
Food Defense Plan Builder
The Food Defense Plan Builder is a user-friendly software program designed to assist owners and operators of food facilities with developing personalized food defense plans for their facilities. This user-friendly tool harnesses existing FDA tools, guidance, and resources for food defense into one single application.
FREE-B
The Food Related Emergency Exercise Bundle (FREE-B) is a compilation of scenarios based on both intentional and unintentional food contamination events.
Employees FIRST
Employees FIRST is an FDA initiative that food industry managers can include in their ongoing employee food defense training programs. Employees FIRST educates front-line food industry workers from farm to table about the risk of intentional food contamination and the actions they can take to identify and reduce these risks.
See Something, Say Something™ Campaign
Documents highlighting indicators of suspicious activities and recommended protective measures for Food Service and Retail Food Establishments. Available in English, Spanish, and Chinese.
Mitigation Strategies Database
This new database is one of several tools developed by the FDA for the food industry to help protect our nation’s food supply from deliberate acts of contamination or tampering. It provides a range of preventive measures that companies may choose to implement to better protect their facility, personnel, products, and operations.
Research Reports