CARVER plus Shock

The vulnerability assessment method supported by the FDA is CARVER plus Shock.  The name comes from the six attributes, plus "shock value" as a seventh, used to choose a target.  Taken from a military targeting method, it has been adapted for use in the food industry.

By looking at your facility like a bad guy that is choosing his target, you can determine what operations are most vulnerable.  Knowing why they were most vulnerable, you can put targeted mitigation measures in place to reduce your vulnerability.

The FDA has developed a software implementation of CARVER plus Shock, available for free from their website.  It may be downloaded by clicking here.

(Please report any broken links since we don't control their website.  You can always find the software by going to www.FDA.gov and putting CARVER in the search window).

Periscope Consulting is an expert user of the CARVER software and can facilitate a vulnerability assessment on your site.  It is often possible to extrapolate a single detailed assessment to additional similar operations, so that only a single assessment is required.

The CARVER plus Shock vulnerability assessment may be done prior to development of your Food Defense Plan.  In this case we will embed targeted mitigation measures directly into your plan based on the analysis.  If you have an existing Food Defense Plan, a vulnerability assessment may still be done, providing a gap analysis and targeted mitigation measures to improve your plan.