Some Growing Food Safety Threats That Most Don’t Think About But Can Gravely Affect Your Facility | Episode 116

In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are talking about some growing threats to food safety: cyber attacks, food terrorism, and food fraud.

For some time, these were associated with external threats, as was the case with JBS’s Russian ransomware attack, which stopped 30% of the American meat supply back in 2021, and the lead-laced-cinnamon fraud that came from Ecuador and led to the Cinnamon Applesauce Pouches Lead and Chromium Poisoning Outbreak.

But today, our hosts are bringing you a very serious case of a cyber attack by someone on the inside, with dangerous consequences for both consumers and workers at a poultry processing facility. 

So, stay tuned to know all about these growing threats and how to protect your facility from them.

In this episode:

💩 [04:05] What makes our hosts successful in the food compliance world

💩 [05:23] The food industry must prepare for food terrorism and fraud

💩 [07:17] The South Carolina chicken plant sabotage case

💩 [08:26] The bad side of the current level of automation in meat-packing plants

💩 [10:05] What the saboteur accomplished and the questions that elicited

💩 [12:08] A disgruntled insider’s access and the importance of changing codes

💩 [16:07] Having no past criminal records doesn’t mean much

💩 [17:32] Chemical risks in poultry processing

💩 [20:41] Cybersecurity: A growing threat to food safety

💩 [23:55] Listen to your IT people, they’re trying to protect you from this

💩 [26:25] The points in the system where food can be tampered with

💩 [29:50] The need for good food defense plans

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.

Resources from this episode

Catch up with our decaf coffee episode, What They Don’t Tell You About Decaf Coffee That You Should Absolutely Know | Episode 111.

In case you’re curious, these are the Alani Nu Energy Drinks marketed to women.

Check out the Food Safety News article our hosts are talking about, South Carolina chicken plant sabotage case exposes food safety gap.

Watch Matt and Francine’s global webinar for NEMIS, Ensuring Food Safety Worldwide: Tackling Challenges and Paving the Way for a Safer Future.

Catch up with our funny take on Dr. Darin’s article, When Dead Chickens Fly: The Current Issue With American Chicken Processing Plants | Episode 110.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“This case exposes a blind spot in food safety: the vulnerability of digitized processing systems to insider attacks. While efficient, these systems are susceptible to sabotage, especially by former employees with lingering access.” – Matt Regusci

“ Companies need to start watching out for this type of behavior [food terrorism] because it’s going to happen. It’s just a matter of time till this type of behavior starts to happen. It’s on the forefront and it’s not just [in] manufacturing and processing [but in] restaurants as well.” – Francine L Shaw

This episode is sponsored by Eagle Protect.

Did you know you can find fecal coliform on over 50% of gloves?  It’s astounding to learn that many of the gloves coming into our country are contaminated.  But Eagle Protect is changing that. 

They test every single lot of their Eagle Delta Zero™ gloves for microbial contamination.

This is a company truly committed to food safety. So please check them out at eagleprotect.com and get your gloves tested! Let’s not forget… Don’t eat poop!

Connect with Francine, Matt, and the “Don’t Eat Poop!” show on LinkedIn! 

Check out Francine’s book Who Watches the Kitchen? on Amazon!