Last reviewed October 2026
Quick answer: Site security, engineering and operations managers should take ASC Food Safety Training’s Food Defence Coordinator: TACCP, FSMA and the Food Defence Plan. It is a 10-hour online course, costing R1 750, built on TACCP and PAS 96:2026. You build a threat assessment for a case-study food factory, a trainer marks it, and you leave with an audit-ready method for your own site.
Why food defence belongs to the people who run the site
A threat assessment asks three questions: who could get in, which point could they reach, and what stops them. The answers sit with whoever controls gates, keys, access cards, contractors, water tanks, chemical stores and IT systems. In most plants that is security, engineering or operations, not the QA office.
The weak spots are usually ordinary:
- A dismissed worker whose access card still opens the ingredient store
- A contractor left alone near the chemical store
- An unlocked water tank or bulk intake point
- Open product on the line with no supervision
- A dispatch bay without tamper-evident seals
- A recipe or label system that an outsider could change remotely
Certification auditors ask to see each of these scored and controlled. A food defence plan written without the people who run the site rarely survives that conversation.
What the course trains you to do
- Build a food defence team that is separate from your HACCP team.
- Score threats using six threat actors and fourteen access points, at organisation, operations and product level.
- Rate attractiveness, vulnerability and impact on defined 1 to 5 scales, then derive likelihood and a threat rating.
- Build mitigation in four layers: deter, deny, detect and respond.
- Verify the plan by testing behaviour, not paperwork, and plan incident response, including cyber incidents.
- Keep the threat assessment itself confidential.
Course facts
| Detail | Food Defence Coordinator |
|---|---|
| Duration | About 10 hours: 7 hours of lessons, 3 hours of marked practical work |
| Price | R1 750 |
| Structure | 5 modules, about 30 lessons of 10 to 20 minutes, 4 knowledge checks, 4 games |
| Practical | Score 4 threat pairings for Mzansi Fresh Meals: insider at the open line, contractor at the chemical store, outsider at the bulk intake, cyber actor at the recipe and label system |
| Marking | A trainer marks against a rubric, gives coaching notes and allows a second attempt |
| Final assessment | 30 questions from a bank of 68, video proctored, 70% to pass |
| You keep | Your own marked threat assessment and a certificate of completion |
| Standards | PAS 96:2026, FSSC 22000 clause 2.5.3, BRCGS Issue 9 clause 4.2, SQF Edition 10 element 2.7.1, IFS Food 8 requirement 4.21, FDA 21 CFR Part 121 |
Exporting to the United States
Module 5 covers the FDA Intentional Adulteration rule under FSMA (21 CFR Part 121), including the FDA’s vulnerability assessment method and the monitoring, corrective action and verification required behind every mitigation strategy. One trained coordinator can then build a plan that serves both a GFSI auditor and a US customer. For the regulatory detail, read the FDA Intentional Adulteration guide for South African exporters.
Frequently asked questions
Can someone outside QA be the food defence coordinator?
Yes. The schemes require competence, not a QA job title. Access, people and site weak spots are the core of TACCP.
Do I need my own site to complete the course?
No. The marked practical runs on the course case study, so consultants and people between roles can finish it.
What prior knowledge do I need?
A working knowledge of food safety management systems, at HACCP team member level or above. If you are new to the subject, start with the overview course.
Enrol
Put food defence in the hands of the people who control your site. Enrol in the Food Defence Coordinator course for R1 750.
Related reading: What a food defence coordinator actually does