It is important for management to realize that there is also potential for an exterior
attack or a deliberate contamination of food initiated by someone working outside
your establishment. These people would include suppliers and delivery drivers.
To help avoid exterior attacks, managers should:
Purchase product from approved licensed sources. Food items should only be purchased from known and trusted sources. An unknown source may say it is a legitimate business but may offer counterfeit or contaminated food at a reduced price.
Encourage suppliers to practice food defense. Suppliers should be encouraged to practice food defense. Contamination of food can occur at a supplier’s facility, and the contaminated food can then be delivered to your establishment. You should require that specific security measures are part of every supplier’s contract.
Inspect delivery vehicles. Delivery vehicles should be properly inspected and secured. Locked and/or sealed vehicles keep food from being contaminated while en route to your establishment. A seal is an extra security measure that could indicate a shipment has been altered or tampered. When seals are used, compare the seal numbers on the truck or package. They should match. Reject the delivery if the seal numbers do not match or if the lock has been removed or if there is a potential security breach. Always err on the side of caution.
Know in advance when deliveries are being made. Management should create pickup and delivery schedules in advance. Unscheduled
pickups or deliveries should be questioned. Delivering counterfeit or
contaminated food may result in a delay of delivery, due to switching or tampering with the load and/or replacing the original driver (i.e., a hijacked load). The manager should know when a delivery is due, as well as the name of the driver, and question anything out of the ordinary.
Supervise deliveries. A designated employee or member of manage- ment should supervise offloading of deliveries. Contamination can occur during offloading, especially if it occurs after hours. The food type and quantity received should match what is listed on the invoice. Inspect deliveries. A designated employee or member of management
should inspect food, packaging, and paperwork when accepting a delivery. Those attempting to contaminate food may leave signs of con- tamination on the food. Such indications include abnormal powders, liquids, stains, or odors that accompany the food or evidence that tamper-resistant packaging has been resealed. Counterfeit food may contain improper or mismatched product identity, labeling, or coding. In other words, you may open a can that is supposed to contain peaches, but it contains pizza sauce instead. You should also be aware of invoices with suspicious changes, as these may accompany counterfeit or con- taminated loads.
Put fencing up around nonpublic areas. Perimeter fencing should be provided for nonpublic areas of your establishment, because this is the first line of defense against attack by an intruder. The establishment should take measures to protect doors, windows, roof and vent open- ings, and other access points, including access to food storage (portable refrigeration units, walk-ins, tanks, and bins) outside the building(s). Locks, alarms, video surveillance, and guards can also keep intruders from breaking in.
Secure access to all utilities and systems. All utilities including gas, electric, water, and airflow systems should be secured. The greatest con- cern is the water supply because hazards introduced to water can be passed on to the food.
Provide sufficient lighting. Good interior and exterior lighting should be provided to deter a potential contamination. A brightly lit establishment will help prevent an attack and it will be easier to detect intruders before they contaminate any of the products.
Create a system of identification. Management should provide a means of employee identification such as a uniform and name tag. Requiring employees to wear identification will help to more easily identify an intruder.
Restrict entry. Entry to nonpublic areas of the establishment should be restricted. Ladders accessing the roof of your facility must be locked at all times. Security checkpoints should be created, and a designated employee should walk with all visitors through nonpublic areas of the establishment. You should make sure those visitors are whom they claim and that their visit has a valid purpose. This will prevent those with crimi- nal intent from entering the establishment. Always check identification! Examine packages or briefcases. Management should examine pack-
ages that are left in nonpublic areas, since a visitor may conceal a con- taminant in a package or briefcase that he or she brings into the establishment.
Monitor public areas. Public areas should be monitored for suspicious activity. A customer who wants to contaminate food may return food that he or she has already contaminated to a shelf. Other activities include a customer spending a considerable amount of time in one part of the es- tablishment contaminating food. Self-service areas (i.e., salad bars, prod- uct display areas, etc.), in particular, should be monitored. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, intentional contamination of a self-service location has already occurred in the United States.
Use a Food Defense Checklist. The following tool was provided by the New York State Department of Health to help you identify food defense problems that need to be corrected in your foodservice operation.
Doug figured that his pounding headache and slight nausea were the result of rooting for the losing team in last night’s Superbowl game. After drowning his sorrows in beer last night and squeezing in 4 hours of sleep, he opened the restaurant at 6:00 a.m. this morning. Not only was it a rainy morning, but he was late, so he missed the delivery truck. Since Doug wasn’t at the restaurant when the driver ar- rived, the order was left outside in the pouring rain. Once Doug dragged the delivery inside, he quickly realized that last night’s crew rushed to close the restaurant so they could all go home to watch the big game. They had done an unacceptable cleaning job; food was not put away, floors were not swept, and they forgot to “jimmy” the bro- ken door handle on the walk-in with the screwdriver. (Doug makes a mental note to get that repaired.)
Later, Doug checked the phone messages:
Message 1. His closer from last night told him to call a plumber—all the restroom toilets are clogged.
Message 2. His assistant, Jason, who was at the same party as Doug, called to say he was very ill and couldn’t come into work today.
Message 3. The printer said the new menus were all printed with the old prices and they wouldn’t be ready until late next week.
Needless to say, Doug’s headache was getting worse.
As the day progressed, Doug encountered disgruntled customers who had to wait too long for their food because several workers called in sick. He told his staff to do what- ever it took to get the orders out. In the meantime, another delivery arrived and Doug tipped the driver to put the food away for him, since he was just too busy to check it in himself. Then, two customers complained about cold food.
Eventually, Doug begged his brother-in-law, Zeke, to come in and help. Zeke never worked in a restaurant before, but he caught on very quickly. He helped put deliveries away, served customers, bused tables, and made sandwiches.
Zeke thought it was really nice of the new pest control sales rep to leave some samples of a new product for them to test when he stopped by for a visit. He put them on the worktable so Doug could see them later. Since Zeke wasn’t used to working in such a hot kitchen, he left the back door open to give everyone some relief. As he opened the door, he overheard Doug and a recently fired employee arguing outside. Zeke told a waitress to make some sandwiches so he could take them out and attempt to break up the fight. Doug would not let the hostile employee inside to get his last paycheck, but he let his girlfriend come into the office to pick it up instead.
Doug then had to excuse himself because he was still feel- ing ill. He returned to sign the check. The girlfriend walked through the kitchen, into the dining room, and out the front door to her waiting boyfriend. He yelled some obscenities before driving off in a rage and crashing into three parked cars, disrupting traffic.
Doug’s headache was not getting any better. The police and local news crew came in for information. Apparently, the recently terminated employee had an outstanding arrest warrant from a neighboring state. Doug pleaded with the news crew to stay outside while he talked to the police privately in his office. Doug removed a strange large black duffel bag from the chair in his office and sat down to give as much information as possible. Meanwhile, the news crew was getting plenty of footage from the chaos in front of the restaurant, and wary customers who said things like “I knew something was wrong today,” “The service and the food were terrible,” and “This place probably does the ‘breath test’ and hires any one that breathes.”
Doug was sure he would be feeling much worse before he started feeling any better. How was your day?