The Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR): Building Local and State Capacity for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Detection and Response

BACKGROUND: The Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) is a multidisciplinary collaboration of 8 diverse national public health associations and 3 federal agencies whose goal is to improve methods at the local, state, and federal levels to detect, investigate, control, and prevent foodborne disease outbreaks. The CIFOR member organizations represent epidemiology and environmental health programs, public health laboratories, and regulatory agencies involved in foodborne disease surveillance and outbreak response. The food industry is represented on the standing CIFOR Industry Workgroup.

METHODS: CIFOR identifies barriers to rapid detection and response to foodborne disease outbreaks and develops projects to address those barriers.  Workgroups composed of CIFOR Council members and other experts are formed to manage the projects. 

RESULTS: During this CDC/CSTE moderated session, updates on new CIFOR initiatives and their implications for state and local health departments will be presented and discussed.  CIFOR published the CIFOR Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response in 2009 and the CIFOR Guidelines Toolkit in 2011. In 2013 CIFOR will publish an evaluation by the Rand Corporation of the CIFOR Guidelines and the Toolkit and will publish a fully revised and updated version of the Guidelines. Additionally, CIFOR expects to publish this year the CIFOR Foodborne Illness Response Guidelines for the Food Industry, an economic analysis of PulseNet, and three CIFOR Law Workgroup documents: the Practitioners’ Handbook on Legal Authorities for Foodborne Disease Detection and Outbreak Response, the Menu of Legal Options for Foodborne Disease Detection and Outbreak Response, and the Analysis of State Legal Authorities for Foodborne Disease Detection and Outbreak Response.  

CONCLUSIONS: CIFOR serves as an effective collaboration that has already produced a widely used and respected set of guidelines for detecting and responding to foodborne disease outbreaks.  The publication in 2013 of the revised guidelines will benefit local, state, and federal officials involved in epidemiology, laboratory, and environmental health activities related to these outbreaks.  Additionally, the industry guidelines will assist owners and operators of restaurants and grocery stores prepare for and participate in an effective response to reports of foodborne illnesses and confirmed outbreaks.  The law documents will assist officials in developing an effective legal environment for outbreak detection and response. The PulseNet economic evaluation will demonstrate the benefit of this critical public health program during a period of fiscal restraint. In summary, CIFOR demonstrates the public health value of supporting a multidisciplinary collaboration of experts from local, state, and federal levels.