Since 2001, the possibility of a bioterrorism attack carried out through the US food supply has been a major concern, leading to national plans to defend against such an attack. Food defense is the capacity to prevent, detect and contain outbreaks of foodborne illness that result from intentional contamination of the food supply.
State public health laboratory, food safety and agricultural laboratories screen foods for chemical or biological contaminants and prepare for large-scale response and recovery activities. Public health laboratories and their partners identify covert intentional events in the same manner as they would detect “natural” outbreaks. Consequently there is overlap in the laboratory networks and resources used to build laboratory capacity for both intentional and unintentional events.