The National Center for Food Protection and Defense (NCFPD) was officially launched as a Homeland Security Center of Excellence in July 2004. A multidisciplinary and action-oriented research consortium, NCFPD addresses the vulnerability of the nation's food system to attack through intentional contamination with biological or chemical agents.

NCFPD's research and education program is aimed at reducing the potential for contamination at any point along the food supply chain and mitigating potentially catastrophic public health and economic effects of such attacks. The program incorporates cutting-edge research across a wide range of disciplines, taking a comprehensive, farm-to-table view of the food system and encompassing all aspects from primary production through transportation and food processing to retail and food service.

NCFPD Webinar Series: Terrorism Risk Assessment

Posted: Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Sara Klucking, PhD, will discuss the risk assessment process currently utilized by the Department of Homeland Security. She will focus on a model developed by DHS to assess risk of intentional food contamination.  The presentation will conclude with a discussion of implications to current and future NCFPD research.  The intended audience for this webinar is NCFPD investigators, students, and industry and agency partners.

This webinar is part of the National Center for Food Protection and Defense's Research in Food Protection series. Our next webinar will be Friday, January 8th, 2010.

Event Details

DATE: Friday, December 4, 2009
TIME: 10amET / 9amCT / 8amMT / 7amPT
PRESENTER:
Sara Klucking, PhD
Threat Characterization Program Manager
Chemical and Biological Division
Science & Technology Directorate
US Department of Homeland Security

FACILITATOR:
Shaun Kennedy, Director
National Center for Food Protection and Defense

Click Here to Register

Conference Phone:
Domestic: 800-357-0498
International: 850-429-1388
Passcode: NCFPD Webinar Series

Click Here to Access the Webinar

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Message from the Director - November 2009

Posted: Monday, November 2, 2009

In October, we had meetings of our Systems Strategies, Event Modeling, Chemical Agent Behavior and Microbiological Agent Behavior research themes. These meetings brought together over 70 investigators from around the world to advance the research domain of food protection and defense. This included collaborative interaction on their own research projects as well as identifying important research needs and opportunities for the future. These were very exciting meetings that helped outline our strategic research direction as we continue to evolve to meet the ever-changing needs of our growing food system in order to protect it from intentional or natural catastrophic events. One of the important attributes of these meetings was bringing in partners from outside the academic community, including presenters from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the private sector, to help connect our research to end users and stakeholders.  Our partnerships with stakeholders are key to our long-term success in the Center. In a recent speech at the Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response, Michael R. Taylor, the Senior Advisor to the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, highlighted the importance of partnerships in FDA’s efforts to prevent foodborne illness. While his talk was primarily focused on food safety, the concepts extend just as much to food defense.  It is the partnerships with academia and the private and public sector that provide the long term capabilities to advance food protection and defense, to protect the public and to advance the vitality of the food system that nourishes us all.

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FAS-CAT Version 1.1 is now available for download.

FAS-CAT live webinar training sessions will be available.  If you are interested in participating in this webinar training, please email [fascat@foodshield.org] for specific information on joining the webinar audience and dial-in information for the linked phone bridge.

FAS-CAT 1.1   Guidance Document Video Tutorial