FDA's New Software Tool

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released a new tool to help growers, packers, processors, manufacturers, warehousers, transporters and retailers in the food industry determine the vulnerability of individual food facilities to biological, chemical or radiological attack. The software program, called the CARVER + Shock Software Tool, is a science-based prevention strategy to safeguard the food supply. The tool is an example of the type of approach currently being developed as part of a broader food protection strategy currently under development by FDA. The name of the risk assessment software is derived from the acronym CARVER which refers to six attributes: Criticality, Accessibility, Recuperability, Vulnerability, Effect and Recognizability. More information about CARVER can be found at by clicking here.