FSIS Posts Annual Foodborne Illness Outbreak Investigation Summary Reports

FSIS has posted on its website an outbreak investigations overview and summaries of outbreaks investigated during fiscal years (FY) 2017, 2018, and 2019. The overview provides information about how FSIS is notified about outbreaks, the types of information FSIS evaluates to help inform Agency actions, and how FSIS captures and applies outbreak lessons learned. The annual outbreak reports summarize information about outbreaks investigated during each FY, including the number of outbreaks, pathogens, products, illnesses, and how many outbreaks resulted in a product recall. The annual reports also highlight lessons learned from outbreak after-action reviews.

FSIS collaborates with public health partners to investigate foodborne illness associated with FSIS-regulated products to determine which specific products are making people sick so that these products can be removed from commerce to prevent additional illnesses.

To view the reports, please visit the Data Analysis and Reporting page on the FSIS website.

To view after-action review reports for specific outbreaks and learn more about outcomes of FSIS outbreak investigations, please visit www.fsis.usda.gov/OutbreakOutcomes.

FSIS Updates Research Studies List

FSIS makes science-based and data-driven decisions to inform regulations and policy to ensure consumers have access to safe meat, poultry and egg products. Since 2011, the Agency has maintained a list of research priorities, including detailed specific studies, which are updated annually. While not a research Agency, FSIS encourages researchers to address FSIS priorities, and encourage research funding agencies to consider these priorities when developing research opportunities. 

FSIS has added 12 new studies to our list:

Chemical detection methods

• Technologies are needed for screening FSIS regulated products for multiple pesticides simultaneously, which could result in more rapid results and be more cost effective than current approaches.
• Research is needed on improved methods for enhanced screening of ante-mortem food animals for contaminants. 

Microbial detection methods

• Significant time savings can be obtained using mass spectrometry analysis in place of current microbial detection methods. Rapid detection using the Matrix-assisted-laser-desorption/ionization (MALDI) time of flight (TOF) technique should be evaluated for FSIS-regulated products.
• Research is needed on methods to reduce potential Salmonella serotype bias when multiple serotypes are present in a product. Selective pressure during the sample enrichment phase could favor growth of one strain or serotype over another, which might impact source attribution. Results from this research could help improve outbreak investigations and intervention strategies.

Microbial quantification methods

• FSIS would like to replace the current MPN protocol to determine the number of bacterial pathogens in a meat or poultry sample with a molecular-based test.  Two studies are needed to achieve this:
  • an image-based automated cell counter system method; and
  • use of Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) to count bacterial populations in meat and poultry samples. 

Microbial intervention strategies

• Research is needed on the potential effects of simultaneous or a series of applications of post-harvest antimicrobial interventions.
• A study is needed to assess antimicrobial intervention strategies to determine whether combinations of interventions are effective in reducing Salmonella and Campylobacter on raw poultry during slaughter and processing.
• Research is needed to estimate the drying times needed to control pathogens in different diameters of dry and semi-dry fermented sausages. The resulting data could be used to ensure appropriate lethality during fermentation and drying.
• FSIS would like more information about the incidence and levels of C. perfringens in cooked large mass products and their survival during cooling and refrigerated storage.  The resulting data could be used to determine if there is a public-health risk from these products.

Understanding antimicrobial resistance

• Research is needed to improve our understanding of antibiotic resistance in microorganisms and the possibility of horizontal gene transfer in microorganisms from poultry and cattle.

Species identification/ Label verification

• A single technology for testing multiple animal species would be more rapid and cost effective than current testing methods for species identification, where separate tests are needed for different animal species. Results of the study will help inform accurate labeling of FSIS regulated products.

For more information, please visit our research priorities webpage at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/science-data/research-priorities.

Policy Updates

FSIS notices and directives on public health and regulatory issues are available at:https://www.fsis.usda.gov/policy.The following policy updates were recently issued:

Docket No. FSIS-2005-0015 - Egg Products Inspection Regulations

FSIS Directive 7120.1 Revision 54 - Safe and Suitable Ingredients Used in the Production of Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products

Export Requirements Update

The Library of Export Requirements has been updated for products for the following country:

• Dominican Republic 

Complete information can be found at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/inspection/import-export/import-export-library.

Tips for Running PHR Reports

FSIS has received multiple inquiries from industry stakeholders about the FY2021 Public Health Regulations (PHRs) and their corresponding noncompliance rate thresholds, which were announced via the FSIS Constituent Update on June 26, 2020 and posted on the FSIS Data Analysis and Reporting: Public Health Regulations webpage on July 1, 2020.

Establishments can use the Public Health Inspection System (PHIS) to review their PHR noncompliance rates (NRs), calculated monthly, using the Industry PHR Noncompliances for an establishment report. Please refer to the Public Health Information System webpage for instructions on how to obtain an eAuthentication level 2 account in order to access PHIS.

Reports created within a given month are a review of the prior three months’ data and use the PHRs for the month and fiscal year in which the report is requested. For example, data pulled in September 2020 (i.e., FY2020) will apply the FY2020 PHRs to data from June, July, and August. Data pulled in October 2020 (i.e., FY2021) will apply the FY2021 PHRs to data from July, August, and September.

FSIS computes the establishment PHR noncompliance rates for the prior month data on or around the 15th of each month, and we recommend others do the same. This is done to account for data fluctuations, such as appealed or closed out NRs and past tasks added by inspectors to the previous month.

PHRs for each fiscal year are implemented on October 1st. Prior to implementation, FSIS posts the planned PHRs for the next fiscal year three months in advance to give establishments sufficient time to review the list. A highly elevated rate of PHR noncompliance is one of seven decision criteria FSIS uses to prioritize regulated establishments for Public Health Risk Evaluations (PHREs), which are reviews of FSIS information for an establishment and are used to determine the need for a Food Safety Assessment (FSA) or enforcement action. Additionally, FSIS provides an early warning alert to establishments whose PHR noncompliance rate is elevated as a means to prevent a future loss of process control.