• This directive describes the Food Defense Surveillance Procedures that Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), Office of Investigation, Enforcement and Audit (OIEA), Compliance and Investigations Division (CID) personnel are to perform and the frequency with which these procedures are to be performed. This directive also describes additional actions that are to be followed at in-commerce facilities and facilities (other than official import inspection establishments) located at ports-of-entry (“facilities”) when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issues a National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) alert.
• If there is an actual terrorist attack on a facility, OIEA personnel are to take immediate precautions to protect their personal safety and to notify appropriate law enforcement officials, their immediate supervisor, and the OIEA Assistant Administrator (AA) of the situation. In addition, the OIEA senior executive leadership may request the activation of the FSIS Emergency Management Committee (EMC) (see FSIS Directive 5500.2, Significant Incident Response).
• FSIS is reissuing this directive as result of the Agency’s reorganization and of the change in the name of the office to OIEA from the Office of Program, Evaluation, Enforcement, and Review.

KEY POINTS:

• How NTAS alerts are to be communicated
• How to respond to NTAS alerts
• How to effectively address and resolve noted security concerns to ensure that food that is in commerce is protected, thereby protecting public health
• How to determine whether a facility has a functional food defense plan (FDP)