While the anthrax scare hits Americans, another threat of bioterrorism may have the potential of attacking America as well.
Food bioterrorism, or the intentional release of toxins into food, is a threat that seems minimal to some, but is still on the minds of many food safety experts and food production specialists.
Michael Pariza, chair of the UW-Madison Department of Food Science, said it is unlikely someone would infect an individual farmer's crops because it would be difficult to spread.
\The real danger here would be that someone would do it on a mass scale,"" he said.
Still, Pariza said even that risk is relatively small. In his opinion, the most plausible way to infect a large number of people is by trying to harm animals, such as by intentionally spreading foot and mouth disease.
UW-Madison food science Professor Barbara Ingham said another possibility would be flying airplanes over crop fields and releasing some type of pesticide or bacteria into the environment. Bacteria could also be released into the water given to cattle or to crops.
Even though the dangers of food bioterrorism are present, Pariza said the chances of anything actually happening are minimal.
""Your risk of getting food poisoning from just the traditional food poisoning that we know about is greater than food bioterrorism,"" he said.
Ingham also said the chances are quite remote because there are a fair amount of checks already in place within the food production industry.
Still, some legislators are beginning to advocate for legislation that would increase the inspections of imported food.
Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, is co-sponsoring a bill that would tighten these regulations. Baldwin said there is concern over terrorism in general as a result of the events on Sept. 11, and people must take precautions to prepare for different types of threats.
""No one appears to know what form that threat might take,"" she said.
That is why people are motivated to pass this type of legislation and improve food safety, Baldwin said.
""I think everybody is very interested in improving the security of American citizens, so there's some momentum,"" she said.
Pariza also said major food production sites are aware of the potential problem of food bioterrorism and are taking the necessary measures such as increasing the number of guards they employ.
The more challenging aspect of regulation is in protecting food from overseas, he said, although strict procedures for checking such food is already in place.
According to Ingham, only about three percent of imported food is checked before entering U.S. markets.
She recommends that wary people purchase locally grown food.
""It's the safest because the distribution chain is the shortest,"" she said.
Pariza said another way to improve food safety is to increase the numbers of foods that undergo irradiation, a process permitted in the food industry but not often used, which treats meat with an X-ray type of machine, although it does not make food radioactive.
Currently, irradiation is a technique used to check for the presence of anthrax.
