The Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) released its Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response Wednesday, targeting local, state and federal agencies in order to provide model practices used in foodborne disease outbreaks. These practices include planning, detection, investigation, control and prevention.

As local and state agencies vary in their approach to, experience with, and capacity to respond to foodborne disease outbreaks, these guidelines are intended to give all agencies a common foundation from which to work and to provide examples of the key activities that should occur during the response to outbreaks of foodborne disease.

The guidelines were developed by a broad range of contributors from local, state and federal agencies with expertise in epidemiology, environmental health, laboratory science and communications, including United Fresh; the only produce trade association in the CIFOR Working Group.

"On the whole, we are happy with the council's work," said United Senior Vice President of Food Safety and Technology Dr. David Gombas. "Any time steps are taken to provide a benchmark from which different bodies can synchronize their efforts, progress is being made."

The document is not intended to replace current procedure manuals for responding to outbreaks. Instead, it is designed to be used as a reference document for comparison with existing procedures; to fill in gaps and update site-specific procedures; to provide models for new procedures where they do not exist; and to provide training to program staff.

"It is our hope that this document will be useful to investigators at all levels in improving outbreak investigations and serve as a platform for developing local and agency-specific policies and additional tools to support these critical public health activities," said  Dr. Tim Jones, Tennessee State Epidemiologist and Co-Chair of CIFOR.

For more information contact CIFOR's Lauren Rosenberg at (770) 458-3811 or to access the guidelines document, please visit www.cifor.us.