The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has set a goal that by the end of this year, 90 percent of all establishments will have functional food defense plans. To assist establishments in meeting this goal, FSIS has developed several guidance documents (http://bit.ly/regleg0815) to assist industry in the development of a food defense plan.
At this time, only the very small establishment category of plants is not meeting the goal; unfortunately because enough very small establishments do not have a plan, the overall goal of 90 percent for all establishments is not being met. If the goal is not met, food defense plans would move from a voluntary program to a FSIS regulatory mandated program. It is worth noting that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) proposed rule for Preventive Controls for Human Food that will be finalized later this year includes food defense considerations.