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FDA, FSIS, CDC Collaborate on Methods to Measure Success of Food Safety Programs
March 30 Workshop Open to Public
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Congressional and Public Affairs
(202) 720-9113
Neil Gaffney
WASHINGTON - March 3, 2010 - A joint public workshop on how best to measure progress in reducing foodborne
illness will take place March 30, in Washington, D.C. The meeting is sponsored by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
The President's Food Safety Working Group has emphasized the need for improved metrics for evaluating the government's efforts to prevent
foodborne illness. The workshop will focus on current methods for evaluating food safety progress, the methodological and data
challenges involved, and the potential for improved metrics.
"Being able to draw links between what we're doing to keep the food supply safe and the frequency of human illness is crucial for
gauging the effectiveness of our programs — what changes are needed, and in what areas," said FDA Deputy Commissioner for
Foods Michael Taylor.
"To make our food safer, we must know as quickly as possible which foods are making people ill and why," said USDA Deputy
Under Secretary for Food Safety Jerold R. Mande. "This meeting will help us develop the specific measures we need to see which
policies work best to improve food safety."
The public workshop will include explanations, by CDC, of how rates of foodborne illness are estimated for various purposes; for example,
to determine overall rates of foodborne illness and rates for specific pathogens. FDA, FSIS, and a state representative will describe
other measurements they use to gauge the success of policies and other interventions for reducing foodborne illness.
A notice about the workshop is scheduled to be published in the March 1 Federal Register. Information about the workshop is
available in the Federal Register notice, at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-4110.pdf.
To register on-line, visit http://www.fda.gov/Food/NewsEvents/
WorkshopsMeetingsConferences/ucm201102.htm
Pre-registration, which may be done on-line, will end March 24.
Consumers with food safety questions can "Ask Karen," the FSIS virtual representative available 24 hours a day at www.AskKaren.gov.
The toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline 1-888-MPHotline
(1-888-674-6854) is available in English and Spanish and can be reached from l0 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET Monday through Friday. Recorded
food safety messages are available 24 hours a day. Podcasts and SignFSIS video-casts in American Sign Language featuring text-captioning
are available online at www.fsis.usda.gov/news_&_events/multimedia.
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Last Modified: March 3, 2010 |
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