Historically, there has not been much experience with the possibility of using food as an instrument of terrorism. Today, however, more attention is being paid to the food supply as a potential instrument for compromising global security. This new concern arose after the widespread foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in the UK, and the terrorist attacks followed by the intentional introduction of anthrax in the US, both of which occurred during 2001. While there is no evidence to suggest that the recent epidemic of FMD and its subsequent spread to continental Europe was caused by bioterrorism, the extent of the epidemic illustrates what could be a very powerful weapon to cause widespread disease in livestock, along with economic disruption for the targeted country.

In the 1980s, a religious cult in Washington state attempted to affect a local election by contaminating salad bars with salmonella organisms; it was unsophisticated and largely ineffective. Also in the 1980s, the threat of cyanide intoxication of grapes imported from Chile caused terror, but no real illness or loss of life. However, food-borne disasters in this and other countries have and likely will continue to wreak havoc with the food supply. The most recent examples of transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) from infected neural tissue of meat products, and contamination of meat with E. coli strain 0157:H7 are illustrative of the devastation that can be created by a food-borne calamity.

Food could be used to meet terrorist objectives by the fact that: virtually all foods provide a convenient matrix for introducing microbiological or toxicological hazards; few nations have more than a two-year reserve of food, and so disruption of food production for a short period would lead to chaos; and lastly food is considered a sacred commodity.

Food safety professionals come from various disciplines, mostly as food scientists and veterinarians, but also as chemists, engineers, toxicologists, physicians, and others that are critically important to maintain a safe food supply. However, there are only a few qualified experts in food bioterrorism. What is needed, therefore, is a new group of professionals in the subdiscipline of food bioterrorism to lead a research effort to develop better methods of detecting agents of terror in the food supply and predicting the most likely scenarios for food-based terrorist acts. The new federal law signed in 2002, the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act, has catalyzed an extraordinary level of communication of cooperation among and between organizations and agencies throughout the entire food safety apparatus. Food safety is now considered a legitimate concern within homeland security, national defense, and related programs.

Possible ways to begin to address these issues are: retrospective examination of major food-borne outbreaks; surveillance of food-borne outbreaks as possible rehearsals for terrorist acts; development of analytical tests; and participation in food war games.

Veterinary medicine and veterinary medical colleges have an important leadership role to play in assuring that food biosecurity is foremost. Veterinary medical (and animal sciences) teaching institutions must be the site of much of the key research here, and—of critical importance—all graduating veterinarians must be well aware of and appropriately educated to be able to respond to food safety challenges.