A Free Software for Food Industries to Ensure Food Safety: CARVER + Shock

Abstract

Bio-terrorism is not a new term for scientists. Post 9/11 the United States of America, as well as other countries which have grown well economically and countries undergoing the metamorphosis to developed nations, are under serious threat of bio-terrorism. This has led to the development of the software CARVER + Shock by Sandia National Laboratories and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), specifically for risk assessment and protection mechanism in the entire food supply chain from farm to table. This software requires training on the software front and interaction with industry people to chalk out a plan to safeguard the premises and the supply chain of the food products in the industry manufacturing. Such efforts should be well highlighted and advertised among food processing professionals, educators, students, and those government agencies concerning the food safety issues. Everyone must look at this software as this is going to be the future of food processing safety. This system works like Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points and can be integrated for total quality management of the concerned industry. Our study has highlighted the application of this software in various food industries showing its strength and weaknesses.

Food defence systems as an answer to food terrorism

“…Vulnerability is a weakness in system design that can be used to deliberately contaminate food or the ease by which a contaminant can be introduced in sufficient quantities to achieve the purpose of the attacker after he or she gains access to a critical point of the food supply system. Identifying and defining weak points in the food/water supply system in terms of potential deliberate food contamination that could harm the economy and public health is crucial when assessing the risk(s) and vulnerability of the system (58).…”

“…Since 2005, FDA has been using the CARVER+ Shock program to evaluate the vulnerability of the food supply chain system (58). Parameters are set up, then experts gather, food chain specificities are determined, points are assigned [conditions associated with lower attractiveness or vulnerability are assigned lower values (1 or 2), whereas conditions associated with the higher attractiveness of the target or higher vulnerability are assigned higher values (9 or 10)], and estimations are ultimately obtained.…”

Detection of Irradiated Food and Evaluation of the Given Dose by Electron Spin Resonance, Thermoluminescence, and Gas Chromatographic/Mass Spectrometric Analysis

“…Improvements in the food defense plan can be made after evaluating the food defense measures, but the plan must still remain cost-effective. A food defense plan must include the following (USDA/FSIS, 2008a,b; Yadav and Sharma, 2011).…”

“…This assessment tool is now used by both the FDA and USDA. CARVER, the acronym for Criticality, Accessibility, Recuperability, Vulnerability, Effect, and Recognizability, is used to evaluate the attractiveness of a target for attack, while Shock is the seventh attribute in the modified CARVER tool (Catlin and Kautter, 2007;Hennessey et al, 2011;Higgings, 2011;Yadav and Sharma, 2011):…”

“…This FDA software program, backed with a tutorial, guides food manufacturers in thinking like an attacker, generating results customized to the processor's specifications. After completing an interview process, the CARVER + Shock software does the math necessary to score all of the unit operations (nodes) (Yadav and Sharma, 2011).…”