FDA, FSIS Team to Prevent Foodborne Illness

WASHINGTONThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will hold a joint public meeting focused on improving the system for tracing of food products and ingredients that are causing illness outbreaks or presenting other risks to the health of consumers Dec. 9-10.

Recognizing the need to increase the speed and accuracy of traceback investigations and traceforward operations, both agencies are building on existing efforts by seeking public input that would help identify elements of effective food product tracing systems, identify current gaps in food product tracing, and suggest specific mechanisms for improvements.

The meeting also will improve the ability of FDA and FSIS to use the information in such systems to respond to outbreaks more quickly by rapidly identifying the source of contamination during outbreaks of foodborne illness, and improving the ability of all persons in the supply chain to more quickly identify food that is (or potentially is) contaminated and remove it from the market during traceforward operations.

The meeting will be held at the U.S. Department of Agricultures South Building in the Jefferson Auditorium, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, D.C., 20250.