PAS 96 - Food and Drink Defence

Defending your food and agri-food products is essential to your business’s reputation and survival. While you have various Food Safety Management Systems in place to prevent accidental contamination, a deliberate attack can often bypass food safety protocols – getting past even the most rigorous systems. With the competition in the food industry growing, deliberate attacks have become more common. This is why BSI has developed the Publically Available Specification (PAS) for preventing deliberate attack on food and drink, PAS 96.

The purpose of PAS 96 is to improve the resilience of all parts of production and supply chain against attack. PAS 96 covers types of attackers and addresses a number of specific threats including:

• Extortion
• Malicious Contamination
• Cybercrime
• Espionage
• Economically motivated adulteration
• Counterfeiting

To address these types of attacks, PAS 96 introduces Threat Assessment Critical Control Points (TACCP), a risk management framework closely aligned with HACCP. TACCP should be used by food businesses as a part of a broad risk management strategy to:

• Reduce the likelihood of a deliberate attack
• Reduce the impact of an attack on your food business
• Reassure stakeholders about the safety of your production and supply chain

PAS 96 is intended for use by all organizations involved in the food and agri-food sector. Businesses who run in a competitive space in the market would want to ensure their competitors cannot sabotage their reputation. Organizations who operate in areas with very little legal protection will find this standard to be critical. Finally, businesses with large, varied and widely-sourced supply chains will be required to implement this standard.

Implementing PAS 96 and TACCP into your business ensures your production and supply chain is safe from deliberate attacks. Implementing PAS 96 and TACCP allows you to:

• Demonstrate your commitment to food safety
• Enhance your brand reputation
• Provide assurance to stakeholders
• Better manage your risks, both now and in the future

This PAS was jointly sponsored by the British Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the British Food Standards Agency (FSA). Its development was facilitated by BSI Standards Limited and it was published under license from The British Standards Institution. Businesses can access PAS 96:2014 for free for a short time by visiting shop.bsigroup.com