CARVER +Shock: Food Defense Software Tool

Abstract

The acronym CARVER represents the steps in a threat analysis exercise: Criticality, Accessibility, Recognizability, Vulnerability, Effect, and Recuperability. The CARVER+Shock software was developed as an easy‐to‐use tool for defending food production against malevolent attacks. Shock is added to incorporate the intangible focus of a terrorist in frightening a targeted group. The software uses the CARVER targeting methodology to identify components in a production process that are best suited for security improvements and recommends mitigative steps to improve defense. The food defense software is described and demonstrated on hypothetical yogurt and apple product food‐production processes. Two of the algorithms used to generate scores in the analysis are presented and the assumptions listed. The calculated scores are compared and discussed. Version 1.0 of the software is available free from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website. Software upgrades for agriculture and for retail or restaurants analyses are being developed for release in 2009 along with Version 2.0.