FDA releases plan to improve foodborne outbreak response

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released what it is calling the Foodborne Outbreak Response Improvement Plan.

The plan, according to the FDA, is designed to enhance the speed, effectiveness, coordination, and communication of investigations into outbreaks of foodborne illness.

“The goal is to improve our ability to identify the sources and causes of foodborne illness outbreaks,” the FDA said in the release. “These improvements will help to reduce the number of foodborne outbreaks that go unsolved and ultimately bend the curve of foodborne illness in this country.”

The Foodborne Outbreak Response Improvement Plan aims to work in concert with FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint, the agency said.

The plan was informed by an independent review of the FDA’s structural and functional capacity to support, participate in, or lead multistate foodborne illness outbreak investigation activities. 

The plan, which is focused on outbreaks associated with human food, is divided into four priority areas, according to the release:

• Tech-enabled product traceback, focusing on ways to routinely digitize the process of tracing foods to their source.
• Root cause investigations, working to systemize, expedite and share the results of FDA investigations into the cause of a food contamination.
• Analysis and dissemination of outbreak data to increase the transparency of outbreak investigations.
• Operational improvements to streamline processes and create performance measures. 

In early 2022, a web seminar will be held to walk stakeholders through the plan and to respond to questions, according to the agency.