Estudo de diagnóstico para a elaboração de um plano de food defense aplicável a uma unidade de restauração colectiva

Abstract

Following the emergence of the concept of Food Defense in the USA, due to the successive terrorist attacks, there has been growing concern of food companies. On a global scale, there is an increase of intentional contamination incidents of food, which can occur throughout the food chain.The concept of food defense, which refers to the protection and defense of foodstuffs against deliberate or intentional acts of contamination, has been developed and explored by FDA (Food and Drug Administration), which has led companies worldwide to adopt food defense practices. With the creation of GFSI, there is also a need for the development of Food Defense plans by companies certified by GFSI recognized references, in order to provide safe products. However, the vulnerability of food systems to intentional contamination is a reality that must be addressed by organizations and must be transverse throughout the food chain, not just certified companies.The present work consisted in the diagnosis of food defense requirements in a collective catering company, not certified by standards recognized by the GFSI, in a geographical and social context where this concept is still far from the European and USA reality. The dissertation was carried out in a multinational catering company in Angola, with the objective of determining the main threats and vulnerabilities in terms of food defense in this geographical context, and later the elaboration of the plan, in order to determine the main control points and implement protective measures to avoid incidents of intentional contamination.The diagnosis and verification of food defense requirements and the elaboration of the plan in the collective catering sector proved that the main gaps identified were associated with the absence of a risk analysis of the main threats and their protection measures, the difficulty in controlling the threats associated with fraudulent activities by the supplier and also the lack of involvement and sensitizationof the employees in identifying anomalous situations and preventing deliberate and intentional attacks.

Date of Award	8 Jul 2019
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Raquel Moreira (Supervisor) & Paula Teixeira (Co-Supervisor)