The food we eatFeds warn of food-borne, other poison-based threats

U.S. federal authorities believe a food-borne attack on the U.S. homeland is unlikely, but they are still urging businesses and local law enforcement to keep watch for such an attack and a smorgasbord of other poison-based threats, including the possible contamination of skin products or even handrails at public places, according to documents obtained by Fox News.

This month — as part of its growing “If you See Something, Say Something” campaign — the Department of Homeland Security sent a document to restaurant and hotel owners in at least one major U.S. city, urging them to look out for, among other things, “persons conducting surveillance of … salad bars, condiment areas, and open bulk containers.”

“Improved awareness can prevent businesses from being used in illicit or terrorist activities,” the DHS document said.

Fox News reports that last month, DHS and the FBI jointly sent a threat assessment to local law enforcement and emergency responders across the country, warning that terrorists “continue to express broad interest in toxins and poisons that could be used to contaminate food or water supplies, or spread through skin contact.”

“Widely circulated terrorist manuals contain instructions for mixing toxins and poisons with skin penetrating enhancers such as oils, lotions, and other ointments,” the threat assessment said. “Most toxins and poisons mentioned in terrorist manuals are more suitable for assassinations and small-scale attacks than for mass casualty attacks, but terrorists might calculate that a coordinated series of simultaneous attacks could produce comparable casualties and widespread public fear, as well as erode consumer confidence.”

Specifically, the threat assessment said, “perpetrators” could try to apply “foreign substances” to “items commonly touched by the general public,” including escalator rails and doorknobs, or they could try to access facilities where skin care products or foods are produced or stored — “possibly with help from insiders.”

The assessment mentioned ricin and cyanide as examples of toxins that could be used, and it suggested looking out for “suspicious behavior suggesting individuals may be adding unusual materials to buffet carts, salad bars or food preparations in open dining areas.”

As reported earlier this week, federal authorities obtained information “a while ago” from a “sensitive source” indicating associates of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula — or AQAP — were talking about targeting food at hotels and restaurants inside the United States, perhaps slipping harmful agents into salad bars or buffets.

While that “is something they are talking about,” it is “not something