In 2004, the Food Safety Commission under the Cabinet Office of Japan decided to implement an evaluation of the risk of food poisoning by all species of bacteria that threatens the food supply. However, this statute was designed to protect food products from accidental and uncontrollable adulteration and not from the possibility of intentionally adulterated food products.
In this report, we evaluated the viability and proliferation of highly pathogenic bacteria, Bacillus anthracis spore form, Bacillus anthracis vegetative form, Brucella melitensis, Francisella tularensis, Yersinia pestis, and Burkholderia pseudomallei, when mixed into various food products. Among the beverages tested, the viability of all pathogenic bacteria, including the spores of B. anthracis, was retained in milk; but a carbonated drink containing vitamin C inhibited the viability of B. anthracis spores by 16%. In electrolyte replenishing beverages (ion supply drinks), B. anthracis spores retained 70% viability in contrast to the vegetative form, which retained only 1.7% viability. Furthermore, when the pathogenic bacteria were cultured on the surface of various processed food products, the risk of B. pseudomallei proliferation was demonstrated as well as the risk of B. anthracis. Also, when various pathogenic bacteria were introduced into ready-to-eat packaged curry and rice, the spores of B. anthracis remained viable under all conditions over a period of 30 days, indicating a high potential risk from this organism.
Thus, we demonstrated the risk of serious harm posed by various forms of food tampering that could be committed by persons with malicious intentions or by terrorists.
