While the comments about the food supply by outgoing Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, has evoked controversy, in reality this issue has been of concern for some time. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning in January 2004 that terror groups could be looking to contaminate the food supply and urged increased surveillance. But how much of a threat to food security is terrorism?

To date, most threats to the food supply appear to be accidental, through poor sanitation or inspection procedures, as well as not being fast enough to contain an epidemic. There have been outbreaks over the past few years in the US involving E-coli in beef, listeria in turkey meats, and Hepatitis A-contaminated scallions. Outbreaks against livestock have included Mad Cow Disease (BSE) and Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks in the UK; the Hong Bird Flu in Asia; and the Exotic Newcastle Disease in California. All of these epidemics were accidental and eventually contained but at great economic cost over the loss of livestock. While many of these diseases affected only animals, some diseases are zoonotic and can affect human health. The H5NI bird flu virus killed 32 people in Asia. Recently, a strain of it broke out in the poultry population in Indonesia. It also seems possible that other viruses may mutate and jump to people. One result of these outbreaks was an increased understanding and surveillance for disease outbreak whether they were accidental or deliberate. However, besides the economic damage to a targeted country, it seems that potential cases of agri-terrorism are more insidious and difficult to detect, meaning that they do not provide the same ?bang for the buck? that traditional terrorist acts do.