Food Safety Working Group: A Year in Review

WASHINGTONIts been a little more than one year since President Obama established the Food Safety Working Group to help bring the U.S. food safety system up to 21st century standards. On July 9, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius commended federal food-safety agencies for the progress that has been made based on three core principlesprioritizing prevention; strengthening inspection and enforcement; and improving response and recovery.

The following is snapshot of the some of the progress made based on the three core principles:

Prioritizing Prevention

Salmonella in poultry and eggs. USDA issued revised draft standards for the presence of Salmonella to reduce consumers' exposure to this pathogen in raw poultry products. HHS issued a rule to control Salmonella contamination of eggs during production, storage, and transportation, and by July 9, 2010, approximately 82 percent of shell eggs will be covered under the new requirements.

Produce safety. On July 31, 2009, HHS issued commodity-specific draft guidance documents to industry on agricultural practices to reduce the risk of microbial contamination in the production and distribution of tomatoes, melons and leafy greens and is developing a proposed produce safety rule.

E. coli O157:H7 in beef products. USDA began a new verification testing program for beef bench trim and issued draft guidelines on methods for controlling E. coli O157:H7 on the farm, before cattle come to slaughter.

Laboratory diagnosis of E. coli. In October 2009, HHS published new guidance for clinical laboratories to improve diagnosis and surveillance for Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infections.

Campylobacter. USDA proposed the first ever standards for Campylobacter in poultry.

Measuring progress on food safety. Knowing what food-safety interventions are working helps in designing future preventive efforts. HHS and USDA are collaborating to address the methodological and data challenges involved in the development of feasible and effective food-safety metrics, with a joint meeting scheduled for July 21 in Chicago.

Strengthening Inspection and Enforcement

Reportable Food Registry. HHS launched the Reportable Food Registry (RFR), an electronic portal for industry and public health officials to report when there is reasonable probability that a food item will cause serious adverse health consequences.

Environmental assessments. USDA and HHS are developing a training program for environmental health specialists on how to properly conduct an environmental assessment during a foodborne outbreak investigation, leading to quicker and more definitive results.

Data analysis. USDA is preparing to launch an improved surveillance and data collection and analysis system in the fall. The Public Health Information System (PHIS) will help USDA/FSIS respond more rapidly to current and potential threats in the food safety system, which is crucial to preventing contamination, recalls and foodborne illnesses.

Improving Response and Recovery

Improving disease surveillance. HHS launched a new Web-based surveillance platform to enhance the speed and completeness of foodborne outbreak reports, and developed an online database to make the data more easily accessible by the public. HHS and USDA published the first joint executive report on antimicrobial resistance among pathogens from food animals, retail meats and human clinical cases based on this data up to 2007; this was the first time all the data was available in one report.

Product tracing systems. HHS and USDA held a public meeting on steps the food industry can take to establish product tracing systems and are seeking public comment. HHS/FDA completed a pilot study on tracing with the tomato industry and is planning several other pilot studies to assess the feasibility of different tracing systems and technology/commodity combinations.

Collaborative investigation or identification of outbreaks. Since July 2009, HHS has coordinated or led more than 15 major multistate outbreak food-related investigations. The investigations identified new food vehicles, including peppered Italian-style deli meat, and a new foodborne pathogen (Shiga-toxin producing E. coli O145), and have led to major product recalls. All involved close collaboration among federal agencies.

New efforts to strengthen investigation and response. USDA and HHS began piloting the use of dedicated local or state interview teams to increase the completeness of routine case interviews and have announced funding of expanded programs in sentinel sites for FY2010, leading to best practices for rapid outbreak investigation and response in a variety of local settings. In July 2009, the Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) published the Guidelines for Foodborne Outbreak Disease Response, which was endorsed by the Secretaries of HHS and USDA, and distributed to all county and state health and food-safety agencies.

Supporting State and Local Health Agencies. HHS supported eight domestic training courses on epidemiological and laboratory methods related to food safety, and trained 20 state public health laboratories in the new molecular Salmonella serotyping method, which will make laboratory surveillance to detect outbreaks faster and more complete.

Rapid response to contamination incidents. Federal agencies are responding more aggressively to reports of contamination in an effort to remove potentially contaminated product from the market before it can cause illness. HHS and USDA formed an "Improving Foodborne Outbreak Investigations" working group to determine and implement best practices, including training, early detection, communications and response. In addition, USDA/FSIS and HHS/FDA have established Chief Medical Officer (CMO) positions, with each CMO leading and overseeing all phases of foodborne outbreak investigations including planning, training, early detection, improved communication, response and incorporating lessons learned into prevention based efforts within our programs.

New consumer communication technologies. HHS and USDA rolled out an enhanced and updated www.foodsafety.gov site in September 2009. As part of that release, a new food safety widget was created to provide customers rapid access to information on food recalls. HHS and USDA also collaborated on a new mobile application for smartphones that provides consumers with easy access to recent food recalls and alerts.

Incident Command System. Federal agencies implemented a new incident command system that links all relevant agencies to address outbreaks of foodborne illness. This approach facilitates communication and decision-making in an emergency, including with state and local governments.