Food tampering easy but rare, says expert

Incidents involving food tampering are rare, says a food safety expert in relation to recent cases in Atlantic Canada.

Two foreign metal objects have been found this week in potatoes packaged on P.E.I. and sold in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Rick Holley of the University of Manitoba told CBC News often these cases are traced back to someone who has an axe to grind. He that overall access to the public's food supply is easy.

"It's actually fairly rare. There might be one incident that makes the national news a year," said Holley.

"When you consider the volume of food that is accessible to individuals that have criminal tendencies, the number of incidents of this happening is really quite small."

Holley said there are often copycat acts when a story of food tampering is reported. He said more video surveillance is one way to keep an eye on food handling facilities and retail outlets.