“Report Foodborne Illness,” an Online Tool for Reporting Foodborne Illness By the Public in a Local Health Department Jurisdiction

BACKGROUND:  Foodborne illnesses are underreported and frequently misunderstood by the general public.  A tool was needed by the Douglas County Health Department (DCHD) to facilitate local reporting and tracking of foodborne illness complaints and for better coordination between the environmental health and epidemiology sections of the department. 

METHODS: With input from local and state epidemiologists and environmental health specialists, DCHD developed an online illness reporting tool using Survey Monkey®, and placed a link on the department home page (www.douglascountyhealth.com). The survey asks for name, contact information, illness onset date/time and symptoms, medical care information, environmental and general food exposures, and food sources consumed up to four days prior to illness onset.  Explanations of why each set of questions was asked were interspersed throughout the survey.  A response was considered complete if the user navigated through the survey to the final page and clicked “submit.”  A report was written in SAS® to generate a list of reported food sources and the time (in hours) from the date and time of consumption to the illness onset. This list was monitored each time we were notified of a new response or weekly in case we weren’t notified.  DCHD staff contacted the reporter for more information if more than one person was reported to be ill or the food source was reported multiple times.  

RESULTS:  The survey has been live since April 2011.  As of December 2013 (2 years, 8 months), 196 responses were entered.  Fourteen duplicates and test responses were excluded.  Of the 182 unique respondents, 46/182 (25%) started, but did not complete the survey, and 43 (24%) reports were from outside the local jurisdiction.  Fifty-one people filled out the survey after calling to complain about a restaurant, and 109 found the survey using an internet search.  Median age of those completing the survey was 39, and 63% were female.  Surveys were submitted a median of 40 hours after illness onset.  It took a median of 14 minutes for respondents to complete the survey.  During the reporting period, 21 foodborne outbreaks were investigated, but none were initially identified using the online tool.

CONCLUSIONS:  The “Report Foodborne Illness” online reporting tool improved the ability of the public to report illness, provided education on foodborne illness, and enhanced the communication and collaboration between the epidemiology and environmental health units of the department.  DCHD will consider shortening the survey to minimize incomplete responses and will continue to use the tool.