It’s not something that we would not have thought about 20 years ago, or perhaps even a decade ago, but the spread of global terrorism has made this thought process part of our everyday life. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) last week released the first installment of draft guidance on preserving food safety or preventing food attacks under the Intentional Adulteration (IA) rule of the Food Safety Modernization Act. That rule requires the industry to implement risk-reducing strategies for processes in food facilities significantly vulnerable to intentional adulteration. The draft guidance, released June 19, is the first of three that will ultimately be issued and speaks to the components of a food defense plan, mitigation strategies and food defense monitoring requirements. The first compliance date for the largest facilities is July 26 of next year, 2019, while others will need to comply by July 27, 2020 (for small companies) and July 26, 2021 for very small companies. The remaining two installments, dealing with vulnerability assessments & training requirements and corrective action, verification & recordkeeping respectively, are scheduled to be released later this year.