Hazardous chemicals can enter the food system by natural incursion, accidental introduction, or an intentional criminal or terrorist act, during food processing, storage, transportation, distribution, or preparation prior to consumption. Contamination of food with the possibility of widespread distribution and consumption by households across various communities has the potential to result in a catastrophic incident with a widely distributed number of casualties.
Food producers, FDA, USDA, and state regulatory agencies test foods for chemical contamination; however, testing capacity and ability are finite. The FDA inspects food processing, packaging, and distribution facilities, while monitoring of meat and egg production, such as in slaughterhouses, packing plants, etc., is handled by the USDA. Even so, recognition of adulterated food sources is challenging. The FDA monitors for a limited number of toxins, pesticides, and contaminants, in particular, industrial chemicals such as dioxins, cooking- or heating-related chemicals such as acrylamide, chemical contaminants such as benzene, dioxins and PCBs, ethyl carbamate, furan, perchlorate, and radionuclides, and metals.23 The list of contaminants that the USDA screens for also is limited. Via the National Residue Program (NRP), an interagency program designed to protect the public from exposure to harmful levels of chemical residues in products, the USDA tests meat, poultry, and egg products for approved (legal) and unapproved (illegal) pharmaceutical (veterinary) drugs, pesticides, hormones, and environmental contaminants. In addition, the USDA monitors for potential linkages between chemical contamination in live animals and in food products, such as when agents of chemical warfare/ terrorism, toxic industrial chemicals, or other chemical contaminants are suspected in an animal-based food product or are found in livestock or poultry.24
Footnotes
23. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2020, March 11). Chemicals, Metals & Pesticides in Food; U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2020, August 24). Metals and Your Food.
24. U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service. New Analytic Methods and Sampling Procedures for the United States National Residue Program for Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products. 9 CFR. §417. (2012, July 6).