"Countdown To Doomsday"

PAN AMERICAN HEALTH ORGANIZATION

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

Potential Effects of Food Terrorism
Illness and Death

15. The potential impact of contaminated food on human health from deliberate acts of sabotage can be inferred from reports of unintended foodborne disease outbreaks. For example, the largest, best-documented incidents include an outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium infection in 1985, affecting 170,000 people, caused by contamination of pasteurized milk from a dairy plant in the United States.

An outbreak of Hepatitis A associated with consumption of clams in Shanghai, China, in 1991 affected nearly 300,000 people and may be the largest foodborne disease incident in history.

In 1994, an outbreak of S. enteritidis infection from contaminated pasteurized liquid ice cream that was transported as a pre-mix in tanker trucks caused illness in 224,000 people in 41 states in the United States. In 1996, about 8,000 children in Japan became ill, including some deaths, with Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection from contaminated radish sprouts served in school lunches.

If an unintentional outbreak from one food, such as clams, can affect 300,000 individuals, a concerted, deliberate attack could be devastating, especially if a more dangerous chemical, biological, or radio nuclear agent was used.