Wiley Handbook of Science and Technology for Homeland Security, 4 Volume Set

INSECTS AS VECTORS OF FOODBORNE PATHOGENS

LUDEK ZUREK

Kansas State University, Departments of Entomology and Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology, Manhattan, Kansas

J. RICHARD GORHAM

United States Public Health Service, Food and Drug Administration, Xenia, Ohio

1 INTRODUCTION

Two areas of concern are discussed in this article. One, the major one, has to do with the contamination of food and food-contact surfaces by various insect pests often associated with human or animal foods [1]. The scenarios by which such contaminations occur are well known and are mitigated by strict adherence to sanitation standard operating procedures (SSOPs) and good manufacturing practices (GMPs), by the implementation of the hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP) program, and by the practice of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). We will not describe these four programs. The reader will find abundant resources about these programs on the Internet, from the Land Grant universities, scientific literature, and commercial providers of these programs [2, 3]. The lesser concern, a much less familiar one, deals with intentional food contamination mediated by insect agents. To deal with this threat, an equally proactive approach, similar to SSOPs/GMPs/HACCP/IPM, is essential. It involves a strategy we have termed AIM=F: anticipate, inform, mitigate equals frustrate, that is, the prevention, neutralization or control of intentional acts of food contamination by means of insect agents.

2 MUSCOID FLIES ...