Threat: Supermarkets have been told to tighten security due to concerns that food and drink supplies may be targeted by terrorists. 

The government has warned supermarkets that terrorists could poison food supplies in Britain.
Security advisers have highlighted the vulnerability of the country's food chain and how quickly bacteria can spread.
Manufacturers and retailers have been told they could be at risk from groups looking to cause widespread casualties and disruption.

Across the board, food and drinks producers, suppliers and supermarkets have been told to tighten security throughout their food production processes and target weaknesses in their supply chains.
In the past the biggest risk to food has been from criminals attempting extortion or people with a grudge.

However, Al Qaeda, dissident republicans in Northern Ireland and animal rights activists are being identified as potential risks.
An official from the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure spoke at a meeting of food safety experts.
He said: The UK suffers from a low level of malicious contamination of food by the bad, the mad and the sad.
'Now it has to consider the possibility of food supplies being disrupted by politically motivated groups.'
Fears have been exacerbated by the outbreak of a highly virulent strain of E.Coli in Germany which is believed to have been caused by poor hygiene at a farm, in transit or at a food outlet.
A senior German doctor last night called for an investigation into the possibility that the bacteria had been spread deliberately.

Risk: Food supplies in supermarkets could be contaminated by extremist groups such as Al Qaeda
Klaus-Dieter Zastrow, chief doctor for hygiene at Berlin’s Vivantes hospital, said: 'It’s quite possible that there’s a crazy person out there who thinks "I’ll kill a few people or give 10,000 people diarrhoea".
'It’s a negligent mistake not to investigate in that direction,' he told the Sunday Telegraph.
Potential attacks include the possibility of contaminating prepared food or drink with bacteria and chemicals or targeting basic ingredients used in large numbers of foods.
The dairy industry is one of the biggest markets at risk because just a few grams of ricin in a tanker could kill thousands of people.
Foreign food presents an even higher risk, the CPNI said, because its security cannot be guaranteed and such attacks could cause severe economic harm.
In the past a pastry producer was targeted when peanuts were put into a nut-free product closing a factory for five days and prompting a product recall. Police ruled out accidental causes, leading the company to losing five per cent of annual sales.
In another case, a South African farmer who believed that Britain was behind losses in Zimbabwe's farming industry allegedly threatened to unleash foot and mouth disease in the UK.
The CPNI goes on to warn that the threat is unlikely to decline in the future and suggests checks are made on visiting contractors and new workers.
It also said producers should look at introducing perimeter controls and increase security to fight against 'bioterrorism'.
SOURCE:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1394470/Terrorists-lace-UK-...