Survey to Evaluate FDA's Food Defense Awareness Initiative ALERT

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Food Defense Survey

Thank you for your participation in our survey. The food industry has a critical role in keeping America's food supply safe. You play an important part in this process and we need your help. The Center for Risk Communication Research is conducting a survey to understand your food defense beliefs and practices.

Your responses to this survey will be kept strictly confidential. All data you provide is being collected and compiled by the Center for Risk Communication Research (CRCR) at the University of Maryland, an independent research center in cooperative agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). CRCR will provide FDA personnel only with a summary of the data compiled in the course of the study. CRCR will not provide FDA with identifiers that would permit the association of specific responses with a given respondent. This survey is voluntary and you may skip any of the questions you do not want to answer.

This first set of questions will ask you about food defense in general.

1. What is FOOD DEFENSE? Please choose one answer.

1. The collective term used to encompass activities associated with protecting the nation's food supply from deliberate or intentional acts of contamination or tampering.

2. The collective term used to describe deliberate or intentional act of food contamination or tampering.

3. The collective term used to describe the unintentional contamination of food

4. A term that refers to preventing food borne illness and specifies sanitation procedures.

5. I don’t know

2. What is FOOD TERRORISM? Please choose one answer.

1. The collective term used to encompass activities associated with protecting the nation's food supply from deliberate or intentional acts of contamination or tampering.

2. The collective term used to describe deliberate or intentional act of food contamination or tampering.

3. The collective term used to describe the unintentional contamination of food

4. A term that refers to preventing food borne illness and specifies sanitation procedures

5. I don't know

3. What is FOOD PROTECTION? Please choose one answer.

1. The collective term used to encompass activities associated with protecting the nation's food supply from deliberate or intentional acts of contamination or tampering.

2. The collective term used to describe deliberate or intentional act of food contamination or tampering

3. The collective term used to describe the unintentional contamination of food

4. A term that refers to preventing food borne illness and specifies sanitation procedures.

5. I don’t know

4. What is FOOD SAFETY? Please choose one answer.

1. The collective term used to encompass activities associated with protecting the nation's food supply from deliberate or intentional acts of contamination or tampering.

2. The collective term used to describe deliberate or intentional act of food contamination or tampering.

3. 3. The collective term used to describe the unintentional contamination of food

4. A term that refers to preventing food borne illness and specifies sanitation procedures.

5. I don’t know.

5. Have you ever received any information about food defense? (Food defense is a term used to describe activities associated with protecting the nation’s food supply from intentional contamination.)

0. No (go to question 53)

1. Yes (go to question 6)

6. Where have you received information about food defense? Mark all that apply.

1. Department of Homeland Security

2. Television

3. Newspaper

4. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

5. Guidance papers

6. Internet

7. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

8. Other (Please describe below)

7. Were you aware that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has educational materials to address food defense ?

0. No (Go to question 53)

1. Yes (Go to question 8)

8. What is the name of FDA's food defense program for industry called? (open)

9. What other food defense educational programs (FDA or other organizations) have you heard of? Please list any programs you have heard of. (open)

10. Please list any food defense programs for which you have received training. (By training we mean you have completed a program or coursework, either on your own or in a formal training setting.)(open)

11. Have you ever heard of the ALERT program? (ALERT is the FDA's food defense program that is used to raise awareness of industry representatives regarding food defense issues and preparedness.)

0. No (Go to question 53)

1. Yes (Go to question 12)

This set of questions will ask you about the ALERT program.

12. When did you first hear about ALERT?

MM _______ YYYY ___________

13. How did you first hear about ALERT?

1. Letter (postal mail)

2. Post card (postal mail)

3. Email

4. Internet

5. From an FDA representative

6. From the USDA

7. Other (Please describe below)

14. Did you receive any of the following ALERT materials from an FDA representative or inspector? Mark all that apply.

1. Wallet Cards in English

2. Wallet Cards in Spanish

3. Brochures in English

4. Brochures in Spanish

5. Posters in English

6. Posters in Spanish

7. No, I did not receive any materials

8. Other (Please describe below)

15. Where have you seen information about ALERT being distributed? (open)

15a. Did you know that information about ALERT was available on the FDA website?

15b. Have you ever looked at the ALERT information on the FDA website?

16. Did you place an order for materials from the FDA website? Mark any materials you have ordered online.

1. Wallet Cards in English

2. Wallet Cards in Spanish

3. Brochures in English

4. Brochures in Spanish

5. Posters in English

6. Posters in Spanish

0. No, I did not order any materials

8. Other (Please describe below)

17. Did you download any materials from the FDA website? Mark any materials you have downloaded.

0. No, I did not download any materials

1. Wallet Cards in English

2. Wallet Cards in Spanish

3. Wallet Cards in Chinese

4. Wallet Cards in Korean

5. Wallet Cards in Vietnamese

6. Brochures in English

7. Brochures in Spanish

8. Brochures in Chinese

9. Brochures in Korean

10. Brochures in Vietnamese

11. Posters in English

12. Posters in Spanish

13. Other (Please describe below

)

18. What did you do with the ALERT materials? Mark all that apply to you.

0. I did not use them

1. Distributed to employees

2. Displayed materials in my facility

3. Placed materials in common areas

4. Other (Please describe below)

19. For the next questions, please tell us what you think about the ALERT materials you use.

a. The ALERT wallet cards help me to keep my facility safe from an intentional attack on the food supply.

1. Completely Agree

2. Agree

3. Neither agree nor disagree

4. Disagree

5. Completely Disagree

6. I do not use this item

b. The ALERT posters help me to keep my facility safe from an intentional attack on the food supply.

1. Completely Agree

2. Agree

3. Neither agree nor disagree

4. Disagree

5. Completely Disagree

6. I do not use this item

c. The ALERT brochures help me to keep my facility safe from an intentional attack on the food supply?

1. Completely Agree

2. Agree

3. Neither agree nor disagree

4. Disagree

5. Completely Disagree

6. I do not use this item

20. How could the wallet cards be more useful to you? (open)

21. How could the ALERT posters be more useful to you? (open)

22. How could the ALERT brochures be more useful to you? (open)

23. Do you personally participate in FDA inspections at your facility?

0. No (Go to question 30)

1. Yes (Go to question 24)

24. Did an FDA representative talk to you about ALERT during a site visit or inspection?

0. No (Go to question 30)

1. Yes (Go to question 25)

25. How much time did the FDA representative spend talking to you about ALERT?

1. 5-10 minutes

2. 11-20 minutes

3. 30 minutes to 1 hour

4. More than 1 hour

26. How did you receive the ALERT information from the FDA representative?

1. Information was given to me throughout the actual inspection

2. Information was given to me at the end of the inspection

3. I was given materials with an explanation

4. I was given materials without an explanation

5. Other (Please describe below)

Please tell us how much you agree or disagree with the following statements. Mark on answer per question.

27. The FDA representative was knowledgeable about ALERT.

1. Completely disagree

2. Disagree

3. Neither agree nor disagree

4. Agree

5. Completely agree

28. The FDA representative was knowledgeable about food defense in general.

1. Completely disagree

2. Disagree

3. Neither agree nor disagree

4. Agree

5. Completely agree

29. The FDA representative felt that the ALERT information is important.

1. Completely disagree

2. Disagree

3. Neither agree nor disagree

4. Agree

5. Completely agree

30. Did you complete the ALERT web-based training? By training we mean the web-based interactive presentation that is on the FDA website.

0. No (Go to question 31)

1. Yes (Go to question 32)

31. Why didn't you complete the ALERT web-based training?

(After completing this question, please go to Question 53)

32. The examples in the ALERT web-based training are relevant to my own facility.

1. Completely disagree

2. Disagree

3. Neither agree nor disagree

4. Agree

5. Completely agree

33. Did your employees or staff at your work facility complete the ALERT web-based training?

1. Yes, it was required

2. Yes, it was optional

0. No

3. I don't have any employees or staff at my work facility.

34. Did you or anyone else in your facility provide any other ALERT training for your employees? (In addition to or instead of the web based training)? Please describe below. (open)

35. In your opinion, what is the general purpose of ALERT? (open)

36. What do the letters A-L-E-R-T stand for?

1. Assume, List, Effect, Readiness, Trust

2. Assure, Look, Employees, Reports, Threat

3. Avoid, Lead, Environment, Reliable, Trade

4. Accessibility, Listen, Emergency, Recoverability, Time

For this next set of questions, think back to the ALERT web-based training. For each statement, please check YES if this information is included in the ALERT training and NO if it is not part of the ALERT training.

37. Which of the following behaviors will help you ASSURE that the supplies and ingredients you use are from safe and secure sources?

	YES	NO
a. Know your suppliers.	q1	q0
b. Encourage your suppliers to practice food defense measures	q1	q0
c. Request locked and/or sealed containers	q1	q0
d. Supervise the offloading of materials coming into your facility.	q1	q0
e. Use Radio Frequency Identification Tags (RFIT's) to trace where your supplies have been.	q1	q0
f. Assure that your suppliers are ISO 22000; 2007 certified.	q1	q0
g. Supervise deliveries that occur during normal business hours, but not deliveries that occur during off hours.	q1	q0
h. Request food defense information from only your new suppliers.	q1	q0

38. Which of the following behaviors will help you LOOK after the security of the products and ingredients in your facility?

	YES	NO
a. Implement a system for handling damaged or returned products	q1	q0
b. Keep track of incoming materials	q1	q0
c. Store product labels in a secure location and destroy outdated or discarded product labels.	q1	q0
d. Encourage your warehousing operations to practice food defense measures	q1	q0
e. Store products at the proper temperature.	q1	q0
f. Become familiar with typical signs and symptoms of infectious diseases.	q1	q0
g. Perform an inspection of your facility everyday at the same time	q1	q0
h. Assume that a finished and packaged product is safe from tampering.	q1	q0

39. Which of the following behaviors will help you know your EMPLOYEES and people coming in and out of your facility?

	YES	NO
a. Conduct background checks on staff	q1	q0
b. Know who belongs in your facility	q1	q0
c. Establish an identification system for employees	q1	q0
d. Prevent customer’s access to critical areas of your facility	q1	q0
e. Train all employees to follow good hygienic practices	q1	q0
f. Management should be alert to staff health conditions that may serve as an early alert of a tampering event	q1	q0
g. Hire staff through a recruitment firm because the firm will always conduct background checks for you	q1	q0
h. Know that an act of food terrorism will most likely occur from a person outside of your facility	q1	q0

40. Which of the following behaviors will help you be able to REPORT about the security of your products while under your control?

	YES	NO
a. Periodically evaluating the effectiveness of your security management system	q1	q0
b. Perform random food defense inspections	q1	q0
c. Establish maintenance of records at your facility	q1	q0
d. Evaluate lessons learned	q1	q0
e. Perform periodic water sampling and microbial testing	q1	q0
f. Measure the public health and economic impact of an attack	q1	q0
g. Give all employees at your facility the phone number of your FDA district office contact person	q1	q0
h. Conduct a Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)	q1	q0

41. Which of the following actions should you take if there is a THREAT to your facility?

	YES	NO
a. Hold any products that you believe may have been affected	q1	q0
b. Contact the FDA or USDA food safety and inspection service	q1	q0
c. If you discover counterfeit products, contact local law enforcement and the FDA or FDIS	q1	q0
d. Post the ALERT posters, they contain emergency phone numbers	q1	q0
e. Reporting a threat to your local law enforcement only	q1	q0
f. If you encounter an incidence of tampering or if you believe a product has been tampered with, destroy the product	q1	q0
g. Determine the public health and economic impact of an intentional attack at your facility	q1	q0
h. Determine the ability of your facility to recover from an intentional threat	q1	q0

This next set of questions is about your attitudes about ALERT. Please mark one box per question.

42. I think the ALERT recommendations are

1. Very difficult to do

2. Difficult to do

3. Neither difficult nor easy to do

4. Easy to do

5. Very easy to do

43. I think the ALERT recommendations are

1. Very impractical

2. Impractical

3. Neither impractical or practical

4. Practical

5. Very practical

44. As an educational program, ALERT is

1. Very poorly designed

2. Poorly designed

3. Neither poorly or well-designed

4. Well-designed

5. Very well-designed

45. I think the ALERT recommendations are

1. Very irrelevant to my workplace

2. Irrelevant to my workplace

3. Neither relevant nor irrelevant to my workplace

4. Relevant to my workplace

5. Very relevant to my workplace

46. Following the ALERT recommendations is a

1. Very resource intensive/costly

2 Resource intensive/costly

3. Neither resource intensive/costly nor cost-effective

4. Cost-effective

5. Very cost-effectiv

e

47. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements about the severity of an act of food terrorism. Please mark one box per item.
		Completely disagree 6	Disagree 6	Neither agree nor disagree 6	Agree 6	Completely Agree 6
a.	If an act of food terrorism occurred at my facility, the consequences would be costly.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
b.	If an act of food terrorism occurred at my facility, many people would be affected.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
c.	An act of food terrorism at my facility could cause death or harm.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
d.	Food terrorism is a serious threat.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
e.	An act of food terrorism could cause my facility to close.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5

48. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements about the vulnerability of your facility. Please mark one box per item.
		Completely disagree 6	disagree 6	Neither agree nor disagree 6	Agree 6	Completely Agree 6
a.	My facility is less likely to be the target of an intentional attack than others like it.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
b.	My facility is at risk for an intentional act of food terrorism.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
c.	In the next year, an INTENTIONAL attack on the U.S. food supply is likely.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
d.	In the next year, an INTENTIONAL attack at my facility is likely.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
e.	Facilities like mine are not a target for food terrorism.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5

49. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements about following the recommendations of ALERT. Please mark one box per item.
		Completely disagree 6	Disagree 6	Neither agree nor disagree 6	Agree 6	Completely Agree 6
a.	I have time to train my staff about food terrorism.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
b.	Implementing the recommendations of ALERT takes too much time.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
c.	Making the recommended changes in my facility is expensive.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
d.	There are so many recommendations about food defense; I don't know what to do.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
e.	I don't want to follow the ALERT recommendations.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5

50. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements about following the recommendations of ALERT. Please mark one box per item.
		Completely disagree 6	Disagree 6	Neither agree nor disagree 6	Agree 6	Completely Agree 6
a.	Following the ALERT recommendations keeps my facility safe.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
b.	Following the ALERT recommendations protects my facility from financial loss.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
c.	I worry less about food terrorism when I follow the ALERT recommendations.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
d.	Following the ALERT recommendations is a good way to protect my customers.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
e.	Following the ALERT recommendations is a good way to protect my facility.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5

51. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements about your ability to follow the recommendations of ALERT. Please mark one box per item.
		Completely Disagree 6	Disagree 6	Neither agree nor disagree 6	Agree 6	Completely Agree 6
a.	I am confident that I can take the steps recommended by ALERT.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
b.	Following the ALERT recommendations can help protect my facility financially.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
c.	If a threat occurred, I would know what to do.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
d.	If I follow the ALERT recommendations, I can keep my facility safe.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
e.	If a threat occurred my employees would know what to do.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5

52. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements about following the recommendations of ALERT. Please mark one box per item.
		Completely disagree 6	Disagree 6	Neither agree nor disagree 6	Agree 6	Completely agree 6
a.	Other facilities that are similar to mine are following the ALERT recommendations.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
b.	Doing what first line supervisors at other facilities are doing is important to me.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
c.	My boss thinks that I should follow the ALERT recommendations.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
d.	My co-workers think that following the ALERT recommendations is important.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5
e.	Generally speaking, I care what my boss thinks I should do.	q1	q2	q3	q4	q5

The next set of questions is for statistical purposes only.

53. Are you

1. male

2. female

54. What year were you born?

YYYY ____

55. Are you Hispanic, Latino, or Latina?

1. yes

0. no

56. What is your race? Please mark all that apply to you.

1. White

2. Black or African American

3. Asian

4. American Indian

5. Alaskan Native

6. Hispanic, Latino, or Latina

7. Other (Please describe below)

57. What is the highest level of education you have completed?

1. Eighth grade or less

2. Some high school

3. Graduated from high school

4. Some college or technical school

5. Graduated from college

6. Graduate degree

58. What area of the food industry do you work in?

1. Food regulator

2. Food grower

3. Food packer

4. Food processor

5. Food warehouser

6. Food transporter

7. Food retailer

8. Food service operator

9. Other. Please explain.

58. Where is your facility located?

1. urban

2. rural

59. What is your job title? (open)

60. Briefly, what are your job responsibilities? (open)

61. About how long have you worked at your current job?

1. Less than 6 months

2. 6 months to 1 year

3. 1 year

4. 2 years or longer

62. How many employees are at your facility?

1. Less than 25

2. 26-50

3. 51-75

4. 76-100

5. More than 100

63. How many employees are YOU personally responsible for?

1. 0

2. Less than 25

3. 26-50

4. 51-75

5. 76-100

6. More than 100

64. Have you ever experienced an act of food terrorism or something similar at your facility. If yes, please describe what happened?

65. Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. Do you have any additional comments for us?

Objectives for each Survey Item

Items 1-4 Assess general knowledge

Items 5-11 Assess experience with food defense programs

Items 12-22 Assess experience with ALERT materials

Items 23-29 Assess information received from the FDA during inspections

Items 30-36 Assess web-training use and knowledge

Items 37-41 Hits, Misses, and False Alarms.

For each part of the ALERT initiative (Assure, Look, Employees, Report, Threat) 4 statements are true and in ALERT, 2 are true but not in ALERT, and 2 are false. These items assess knowledge about ALERT.

Items 42-46 Attitude about ALERT

Item 47 a-e Perceived severity of an intentional attack on the food supply

Item 48 a-e Perceived susceptibility of an intentional attack

Item 49 a-e Perceived barriers to following the ALERT recommendations

Item 50 a-e Perceived benefits of following the ALERT recommendations

Item 51 a-e Self-efficacy/Perceived behavioral control for following the ALERT recommendations

Item 52 a-e Subjective norms about food defense

Items 53-63 Demographics

Item 64-65 Comments