Advances in identifying and tracking malicious contamination of food in agri-food supply chains

Publication date: 06/12/2021
Extent: 34 pages

Contributions by: Marta Marmiroli, University of Parma, Italy; and Jason C. White, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, USA

Chapter synopsis: This chapter is about the history of bio-warfare, and how biological and bio-chemical weapons were developed during the two World Wars and afterwards. There are examples of attacks to the food chain of entire communities with biochemical weapons by either single individuals or groups, and attacks to single persons who are politically active with newly developed chemical agents. There are also example of attacks to agriculture, so-called agro-terrorism. All these impairment of the food chain have a terroristic base and manage to diminish consumer trust in the health of food and in the efficacy of the food chain control, costing billions of United States (US) dollars to the sector as a result. The final part of the chapter is dedicated to the use of biosensors and how through their deployment agencies have been able to protect communities from disruptive events, such as bioterrorism, should they occur in any part of the food chain.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2021.0097.07