CDC INTRODUCES 2 CRITICAL TOOLS FOR FOOD SAFETY
Posted in News, Food Safety, Regulatory, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Foodservice, Bacteria, Microbial,Salmonella, Listeria, Bacteria, E. Coli, Campylobacter, Retail, QSR, Fast Casual, Meat Products,Beverages, Fruits / Vegetables, Poultry, Dairy
ATLANTA—Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have identified gaps in the education of restaurant workers, as well as public health surveillance, as two critical areas that need to be improved to prevent and reduce the incidence of foodborne illnesses.
Research conducted by the CDC identified food preparation and handling practices, worker health policies, and hand-washing practices among the underlying environmental factors that often are not reported during foodborne outbreaks, even though more than half of all the foodborne outbreaks that are reported each year are associated with restaurants or delis. According to the CDC, 48 million people become ill and 3,000 die in the United States. In response, the CDC introduced two initiatives to improve food safety in the foodservice sector.
"Inspectors have not had a formal system to capture and report the underlying factors that likely contribute to foodborne outbreaks or a way to inform prevention strategies and implement routine corrective measures in restaurants, delis and schools to prevent future outbreaks," said Carol Selman, head of CDC's Environmental Health Specialists Network team at the National Center for Environmental Health.
The National Voluntary Environmental Assessment Information System (NVEAIS) is a new surveillance system targeted to state, tribal and other localities that inspect and regulate restaurants and other food venues such as banquet facilities, schools, and other institutions. The system provides an avenue to capture underlying environmental assessment data that describes what happened and how events most likely lead to a foodborne outbreak. These data will help CDC and other public health professionals determine and understand more completely the primary and underlying causes of foodborne illness outbreaks.
CDC also introduced a free interactive e-learning course has been developed to help state and local health departments investigate foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurants and other food service venues as a member of a larger outbreak response team, identify an outbreak's environmental causes, and recommend appropriate control measures. The e-learning course is also available to members of the food industry, academia and the public, anyone interested in understanding the causes of foodborne outbreaks.
The data surveillance system and e-Learning course will debut in early 2014. With these tools, state, and local public health food safety programs will be able to report data from environmental assessments as a part of outbreak investigations and prevent future foodborne outbreaks in restaurants and other food service establishments. CDC developed these products in collaboration with FDA, USDA and state and local health departments.
"Inspectors have not had a formal system to capture and report the underlying factors that likely contribute to foodborne outbreaks or a way to inform prevention strategies and implement routine corrective measures in restaurants, delis and schools to prevent future outbreaks," said Carol Selman, head of CDC's Environmental Health Specialists Network team at the National Center for Environmental Health.
The National Voluntary Environmental Assessment Information System (NVEAIS) is a new surveillance system targeted to state, tribal and other localities that inspect and regulate restaurants and other food venues such as banquet facilities, schools, and other institutions. The system provides an avenue to capture underlying environmental assessment data that describes what happened and how events most likely lead to a foodborne outbreak. These data will help CDC and other public health professionals determine and understand more completely the primary and underlying causes of foodborne illness outbreaks.
CDC also introduced a free interactive e-learning course has been developed to help state and local health departments investigate foodborne illness outbreaks in restaurants and other food service venues as a member of a larger outbreak response team, identify an outbreak's environmental causes, and recommend appropriate control measures. The e-learning course is also available to members of the food industry, academia and the public, anyone interested in understanding the causes of foodborne outbreaks.
The data surveillance system and e-Learning course will debut in early 2014. With these tools, state, and local public health food safety programs will be able to report data from environmental assessments as a part of outbreak investigations and prevent future foodborne outbreaks in restaurants and other food service establishments. CDC developed these products in collaboration with FDA, USDA and state and local health departments.
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