EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A meeting was held in Baltimore, Maryland the week of December 8-11, 1998 with federal, state and local officials to continue work to develop plans for an integrated national food safety system. The meeting, hosted by the Food and Drug Administration, continued the theme MEETING CHALLENGES TOGETHER and focused on follow-up activities from the "50 State meeting" held in Kansas City in September 1998. Representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service and the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency also participated in this meeting. At the 50 State meeting, attendees had discussed a vision for food safety in the future, identified obstacles and recommended action items, including formation of Work Groups to develop the ideas presented in Kansas City. This week, the participants were asked to suggest ways to overcome obstacles and to identify short and long range goals to make this vision a reality. Over 70 federal, state and local officials were named to six Work Groups and issues were discussed in the following areas: Roles and Responsibilities - Capacity and Resource Needs; Coordinating Outbreak Responses and Investigations; Information Sharing and Data Collection; Communication; Minimum Uniform Standards; and Laboratory Operations and Coordination. The Work Groups elected chairpersons and presented reports on December 11. Each Work Group is working on detailed plans and timelines for proposed projects that will cover a 5-10 year period. The Federal agencies will be considering these plans and funding as we jointly pursue the vision of an integrated food safety system.
A Coordinating Committee, which was recommended at the Kansas City meeting, met on December 10. The Committee is composed of 18 individuals: 5 federal and 13 state and local (6 of whom are Work Group chairs) and includes a broad geographical mix, with representation of agriculture, health and epidemiology disciplines from federal, state and local agencies. The role of the committee will be to set direction, liaison between work groups and agencies, assign tasks, develop a plan based on reports from the Work Groups and to set priorities from Work Group recommendations. The Committee selected a chair and three vice-chairs: Janice Oliver, FDA (chair); and Stuart Richardson, California Department of Health Services, Doug Saunders, Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and Dean Sienko, Ingham County (Michigan) Health Department (vice-chairs).
The Committee selected the vision statement for the Food Safety Initiative's Strategic Plan as the vision for this project. The Committee also recommended that a mission statement be developed for the integrated food safety system. Other topics discussed included planning outreach and public meetings and a timeline for next steps. The Committee presented a report to the Work Groups on December 11.
I. INTRODUCTION
The meeting was opened by Mr. Ralph Stafko, Senior Policy Analyst, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS). He said that participants at the 50 State meeting in Kansas City had discussed a vision for food safety in the future, identified obstacles and recommended action items. This week, Work Groups have been asked to find ways to overcome these obstacles to make this vision a reality. Mr. Stafko introduced members of the following Work Groups:
[Note: The list of Work Group participants are included as an attachment]
Ms. Janice Oliver, Mr, Gary Dykstra, Ms. Leslie Kux, and Mr. Joe Levitt from the Food and Drug Administration provided opening remarks to help kickoff this meeting. The Work Groups met from Tuesday, December 8 through Thursday, December 10. Members of the Coordinating Committee also met on Thursday, December 10. On Friday, December 11, the six Work Groups and the Coordinating Committee presented reports to all the participants. Each Work Group is working on detailed plans and timelines for proposed projects that will cover a 5-10 year period. The Federal agencies will be considering these plans and funding as we jointly pursue the vision of an integrated food safety system.
II. WORK GROUP REPORTS
Group 1 - Roles and Responsibilities - Capacity and Resource Needs
| Chair: | Joseph Corby, Assistant Director, New York Department of Agriculture |
| Co-Chair: | Kenneth Kolano, Program Director, New Jersey Department of Health |
Mr. Corby discussed some attributes of an integrated food safety system: uniformity, filling gaps, having confidence in imports, centralized research and data, equal standards and policy and sharing information. He said the only way to have these attributes is to integrate the food safety system.
This Work Group developed a table of food safety activities from production to harvest and identified who has the primary role now. (See Table below)
| Roles Now | Research | Education | Risk Assessment |
Inspection/ Enforcement |
| Production Harvest |
F | FS | Fs | sf |
| Transportation | sf ? | ? | sf | |
| Processing | Fs | FS Fs-standards fS-Delivery |
F | FS |
| Storage | - - | - - | - - | Sf |
| Retail | fs | FSL Fsl-standards fSL-Delivery |
f | fSL |
| Consumer | fs | FSL | - - | - - |
Mr. Corby presented the same table but with roles for a proposed food safety system.
| Proposed Roles | Research | Education | Risk Assessment | Inspection/ Enforcement |
| Production Harvest |
F | FS | Fs | Sf |
| Transportation | - - | sf | Fs | Sf |
| Processing | Fs | Fs-standards fS-Delivery |
F | Sf |
| Storage | - - | - - | - - | S |
| Retail | fs | Fsl-standards fSL-Delivery |
F | fSL |
| Consumer | fs | FSL | -fs | - - |
Key: F = Federal; S = State; L = Local. Capital letter indicate primary role;
small letter indicates smaller role
This Work Group proposed the following activities should be enhanced and improved at federal, state and/ or local levels:
Federal Government
State / Local Government
Work Group Recommendations
Budget: (resources would be needed for the following activities)
Roles and Responsibilities Work Group Liaisons
|
William Keene | - Coordinating Outbreak Responses and Investigations |
|
Lee Bowers | - Information Sharing and Data Collection |
|
Dan Sowards | - Communication |
|
Don Kraemer | - Minimum Uniform Standards |
|
William Cusick | - Laboratory Operations and Coordination |
Group #2 - Coordinating Outbreak Responses and Investigations
| Co-Chairs: | Jerry Gibson, State Epidemiologist, South Carolina Department of
Health Jeff Farrar, Chief, Food Emergency Unit, California Department of Health |
This Work Group's initial plan has three major areas:
Sub-Work Group: Traceback Coordination
Five tasks are proposed in this area:
How will this work group do its job?
Sub-Work Group: Communication
Effective outbreak response requires that accurate information gets to the people who need it in a timely fashion. Obstacles to effective communication include:
Goal: Develop a model communications plan for coordinating responses to outbreaks, recalls and other situations (e.g., water, chemical, bio-terrorism) that states can utilize to create uniformity and consistency in response and to enhance interaction with other entities (federal agencies, other states, other state agencies, local health departments). This model can stimulate states to develop their own system based on their own administrative structure.
Short-Term Project - Needs Assessment
Timeline: There are questions that need to be addressed. The answers to these questions will help determine the timeline.
Follow-up on the Needs Assessment
Implementation of a basic notification network will be based on questionnaire responses.
Budget (resources would be needed for the following activities)
Sub-Work Group: Roles, Process and Evaluation
Objectives
Short-Term Goals (1 Year)
Long-Term Goals (3 Years)
Group # 3 - Information Sharing and Data Collection
(Note: this Group changed its name from Data Sharing and Collection)
| Co-Chairs: | J. Douglas Park, State Epidemiologist, Michigan Department
of Agriculture
Judy Lee, Consumer Safety Officer, FDA/CFSAN |
This group felt that it should be a "listening post" with the other work groups and needs to hear from the other groups about information sharing and data collection needs. Also requested comments from other Work Groups budget representatives to make sure activities are not redundant.
Assumptions that will affect the goal:
Short-Term Goals
Contract Needs (On-going list needed for each of the 5 categories of data from state, local and federal governments involved):
Proposed Timeline for the Food Oriented Relational Basic Information Network (FORBIN)
| 2/5/99 | Contract negotiations / specifications |
| 8/1/99 | Distribution of survey questionnaire |
| 2/5/00 | Telecommunications / equipment report from contractor |
| 3/15/00 | Full contractor report |
| 5/1/00 | Group recommendations |
Budget:
| Short-term budget needs: | Funding for meetings Proposed FDA/Texas pilots Proposed Michigan pilots Contracts needed to develop FORBIN |
| Long-Term (10 years): | Funding for all hardware, software, telecommunication, and contract needs. |
Work Group Liaisons
| Dennis Baker | - Roles and Responsibilities |
| Kate Glynn | - Outbreak Coordination |
| Don Walker | - Communication |
| Bill Brooks | - Minimum Uniform Standards |
| Judy Lee | - Laboratory Operations and Coordination (microbiological) |
| J. D. Warren | - Laboratory Operations and Coordination (chemical) |
Group # 4 - Communications
| Chair: | Sharon Greenman, Food Protection Coordinator, Seattle County Department of Health (Washington) |
| Vice-Chair: | Becky Shreeve, Supervisor, Utah Department of Agriculture |
Vision: Systems and contacts are in place allowing for both routine and emergency communications to be utilized by all.
Prioritized Work Group Charges
Short-Term Action Items
By 12/31/98
By 1/15/99
By 1/31/99
AFDO training director to provide nationwide media relations training to state and locals on media relations.
By 2/1/99
Check with the President's Food Safety Council regarding outcome from their meetings and inform them of our desire to hold more grassroots meetings.
Develop a plan to identify grassroots groups who might be interested in discussing/ hearing about this concept.
Solicit op-ed pieces in editorial pages, particularly in local newspapers. Include Web address in piece.
Obtain infomercial air time on public access television; cable commercials; National Public Radio; banner advertising on the Internet; solicit interviews with local radio, particularly on television morning shows.
Complete feasibility study on development of an Internet Home Page.
Work with CSTE to find out what restrictions are in each state regarding the holding of proprietary information.
Solicit op-ed pieces in editorial pages, particularly in local newspapers.
Complete feasibility study on development of an Internet Home Page for food safety and link to other food safety pages. A part of the home page, ask for input from readers.
Review current policy regarding media contacts to determine how much they prohibit interaction with local media.
By 2/28/99
AFDO requests state and locals to provide heads-up, at minimum, to FDA District Office and USDA prior to initiating a state recall or issuing a press release.
By 3/1/99
FDA and USDA to invite local governments to subscribe to an e-mail distribution list (List/Serve) for recalls.
By 9/30/99
Investigate cost of completing a pilot of joint USDA/FDA 24-hour toll-free meat, poultry, and egg Hotline for states and locals.
By 1/1/2000
Include state and local e-mail addresses on regional FDA e-mail directories - individual names and group lists - state and local officials.
Establish a working electronic, current Web directory available to all government officials which is constantly updated and includes function and/or expansion of FDA Gold Disk, Eureka System.
Provide pagers to appropriate officials in each agency.
Institute annual meetings of local (cities and counties), state and federal officials in each state to discuss the integrated food safety system.
Bring Internet capability to all state and local governments.
FDA / USDA to be included in all existing meetings.
Include academia from Schools of Public Health, food and animal sciences in meetings with states and industry.
Long-Term Action Items (Beyond FY 2000)
Establish an early warning system, similar to Canadian Incident Tracking System, when potential outbreak information occurs in different locations.
By 2002, implement systems and contracts for both routine and emergency communications.
Establish USDA / FDA / CDC 24 hour toll-free Hotline as a single point of contact for state and locals for all issues.
Budget:
Short-Term activities/items that will require resources: Conference calls - 2 per month; Interim calls among group; Meeting - 2/1-5/99 in Dallas; Chair/co-chair meeting(s) with Coordinating Committee; Use of "Meeting Works" type meetings; Fax transmittals; and Express mail documents.
Long-term activities/items that will require resources: Work with CFSAN (cost/year); Pagers (cost/year); Internet capability to all state and local governments; and Annual meetings of local, state and federal officials.
Work Group Liaisons
| Al Bugenhagen | - Roles and Responsibilities |
| Mary Proctor | - Outbreak Coordination |
| Dave Rodeheaver | - Information Sharing and Data Collection |
| Roger Holbrook | - Minimum Uniform Standards |
| Allen Craig | - Laboratory Operations and Coordination |
Group # 5 - Minimum Uniform Standards
| Chair: | Susan Grayson, Head, Food and Lodging Sanitation Branch, North Carolina Department of Health |
| Co-Chair: | Charlene Bruce, Director, Food Protection Branch, Mississippi Department of Health |
The Work Group selected an acronym: MUST - Minimum Uniform Standards Team. The primary priority for this group is to develop and maintain nationally accepted uniform standards. The first activity will be to develop an overall program standard and then have subcommittees develop inspection and compliance standards for 6-7 programs.
Tentative Sub-Work Groups
[Note: the first three were selected because some elements may already exist]
Assumptions
Short-Term Goals
Long-Term Goals
By January 1, 2001, establish a system to maintain standards (review, update, frequency, other issues to keep the standards up-to-date)
By January 1, 2001, establish a quality program to assure that regulatory bodies are meeting the standards.
By January 1, 2002, all standards drafted for review
By January 1, 2005, all standards accepted
Budget: During the next year, funding is needed for 1 meeting of the work group and for 1 meeting with each subcommittee.
Group # 6 - Laboratory Operations and Coordination
| Chair: | William Krueger, Director of Lab Services, Minnesota Department of Agriculture |
| Co-Chair: | Robert Johnson, Lab Director, FDA/San Francisco District Office |
This group reported that it would like to add additional members to the Work Group. Suggested members include representatives from local and veterinary medicine labs and from USDA's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service.
Top Three Work Group Charges:
Form sub-work groups to develop national standards for labs performing food safety analysis (from farm-to-table). Standards will include equivalency of methods, data, samples, etc.
Make recommendations on the use of laboratory accreditation bodies, including use of third-party certification agencies, to improve laboratory operations and coordination.
Propose how local, state and federal agencies could optimize the currently available capacity of government laboratories performing food safety analyses. Propose a mechanism to enhance communications and availability among diverse services. Propose mechanisms to minimize unnecessary duplication and focus research and development efforts.
Activity: Form sub-work groups to develop national standards for labs performing food safety analysis (from farm-to-table). Standards will include equivalency of methods, data, samples, etc.
Short-Term Goal
Establish a process for national standard development using E. coli 0157:H7 as a model.
Look at all facets and resolve issues of our laboratory systems at the federal, state and local levels that would enable us to have a fully Integrated Food Safety Laboratory System on this single analyte.
Longer-Term Goals (three phases)
Develop recommendations, pilot implementation (first year)
"Turn it on" / full implementation - distribute recommendations and equipment as necessary.
Validation / evaluation
Sub-Work Group: Sampling, Detection, Isolation and Characterization (SDIC)
Charges:
Sampling, Detection, Isolation and Characterization (SDIC) Sub-Work Group Members:
Carl Sciacchitano, FDA/ORA/DFS
Joy Wells, CDC
Ann Weber, Montana Department of Health
(5 others to be determined)
Sub-Work Group: PulseNet
Charges:
Barriers:
Sub-Work Group: Expanded Food Safety Analytes
Charge: Compile a list of top 10 additional analytes as priorities for application of the E. coli 0157:H7 model. (These may include: bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins, pesticides, heavy metals, allergens, or other pathogens of concern).
Expanded Food Safety Analytes Sub-Work Group Members:
Farukh Khambatky, FDA/CFSAN
Mark Lee, California Department of Agriculture
Patrick McCasky, USDA/FSIS
Sub-Work Group: Accreditation
Charges: Make recommendations on the use of laboratory accreditation bodies, including use of third-party certification agencies, to improve laboratory operations and coordination.
Consolidation of USDA, FDA and EPA accreditation standards
Develop sub-work group to consult with National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference (NELAC), USDA, FDA and others to tie-in to create a de novo system.
Accreditation Sub-Work Group Members:
Charlie Parfitt, FDA
Stephen Shaub, EPA
Roland Jenkins, Ohio Department of Agriculture
Paul Kimsey, California Department of Health
John Fruin, Florida Department of Agriculture
Mark Lee, California Department of Agriculture
Peggy Melton, Florida Department of Agriculture
Sub-Work Group Activities:
(A) Propose how local, state and federal agencies could optimize the currently available capacity of government laboratories performing food safety analyses.
(B) Propose a mechanism to enhance communications and availability among diverse services.
(C) Propose mechanisms to minimize unnecessary duplication and focus research and development efforts.
Sub-Work Group A - Need to determine lab capacity and availability
Charge:
Develop a National Food Safety Laboratory Resource Database to determine lab capacity and availability
Budget: 1 person for survey (contract), 1 person to maintain data, 1 person to maintain website
Sub-Work Group B - Food Safety Laboratory Conferences
Charge:
Goal: By February 22, 1999, develop an outline for conference meeting dates for FY 2000.
Barriers:
Conferences Sub-Work Group Members:
Mark Lee, California Department of Agriculture
Roland Jenkins, Ohio Department of Agriculture
Robert Johnson, FDA/San Francisco District Office
(1 other To Be Determined)
Sub-Work Group C - Propose mechanisms to minimize unnecessary duplication and focus research and development efforts.
Activities:
Successful Cooperative Efforts Among Laboratories Sub-Work Group Members:
Robert Johnson, FDA/San Francisco District Office
Peggy Melton, Florida Department of Health
Phuc Nguygen-Dinh, CDC
Budget: Resources are needed for the following activities of the Laboratory Work Group and Sub-Work Group: February 1999 Laboratory Work Group Meeting; Sub-Work Group Meetings - January 1999 - (SDIC) Standards, January 1999 - Accreditation, and January/February 1999 - Conferences and Successful Lab Cooperation Sub-Work Groups.
III. COORDINATING COMMITTEE REPORT
The members of the Integrated National Food Safety System Coordinating Committee were introduced by Karen Deasy, CDC Food Safety Liaison, to the Work Groups. They include:
Coordinating Committee Members and Work Group Chairs
| Chair: | Joseph Corby, Assistant Director, New York Department of Agriculture |
| Co-Chair: | Kenneth Kolano, Program Director, New Jersey Department of Health |
| Co-Chair: | Jerry Gibson, State Epidemiologist, South Carolina Department of Health |
| Co-Chair: | Jeff Farrar, Chief, Food Emergency Unit, California Department of Health |
| Chair: | J. Douglas Park, State Epidemiologist, Michigan Department of Agriculture |
| Co-Chair: | Judy Lee, Consumer Safety Officer, FDA/CFSAN |
| Chair: | Sharon Greenman, Food Protection Coordinator, Seattle County Department of Health (Washington) |
| Co-Chair: | Becky Shreeve, Supervisor, Utah Department of Agriculture (will represent WG on the Coordinating Committee) |
| Chair: | Susan Grayson, Head, Food and Lodging Sanitation Branch, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources |
| Co-Chair: | Charlene Bruce, Director, Food Protection Branch, Mississippi Department of Health |
| Chair: | William Krueger, Director of Lab Services, Minnesota Department of Agriculture |
| Co-Chair: | Robert Johnson, Lab Director, FDA/San Francisco District Office |
In order to get a broad geographical mix, with representation of agriculture, health and epidemiology disciplines, and to include federal, state and local agencies, the Coordinating Committee selected a chair and three vice-chairs:
|
Chair: | Janice Oliver, Deputy Director for Systems and Support, CFSAN / FDA,
Washington, DC
|
|
Vice-Chair: | Stuart Richardson, Chief, Food and Drug Branch, California Department
of Health Services, Division of Food & Radiation Safety, Sacramento,
California
|
|
Vice-Chair: | R. Doug Saunders, Manager, Office of Dairy and Foods, Virginia
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Consumer
Protection, Richmond, Virginia
|
|
Vice-Chair: | Dean Sienko, Medical Director, Ingham County Health Department, Lansing, Michigan |
Ms. Oliver summarized topics and issues discussed during the meeting of the Coordinating Committee on Thursday, December 10. These included:
Proposed Responsibilities of the Coordinating Committee
Vision Statement
The Coordinating Committee reviewed three proposed draft vision statements for the integrated food safety system. It was agreed that the final version of the vision statement for the Food Safety Initiative Strategic Plan, should be used as the vision for this project:
"Consumers can be confident that food is safe, healthy, and affordable. We work within a seamless food safety system that uses farm-to-table preventive strategies and integrated research, surveillance, inspection, and enforcement. We are vigilant to new and emergent threats and consider the needs of vulnerable populations. We use science- and risk-based approaches along with public/private partnerships. Food is safe because everyone understands and accepts their responsibilities." [Draft vision statement from the Food Safety Initiative's Strategic Plan, September 1998]
Mission Statement
The Coordinating Committee recommended that a mission statement be developed to describe how the integrated food safety system fits in with the food safety initiative vision. A draft mission statement has been prepared for review:
"Our mission is to develop and promote an Integrated National Food Safety System to best serve the public's health.
A fully Integrated National Food Safety System consists of common ownership by Federal, State and Local government agencies organized to reduce or eliminate foodborne illness and ensure that foods are safe, wholesome, and honestly represented.
We will accomplish this by recommending, developing and implementing strategies with stakeholder involvement that aim to clarify the roles and responsibilities of all levels of government, enhance data sharing and collection, facilitate system-wide communication, establish minimum uniform standards, improve laboratory operations and coordination and coordinate outbreak responses and investigations" [Draft mission statement, December 1998]
Next Steps for the Coordinating Committee
Ms. Oliver also addressed the following:
Ms. Oliver thanked everyone for their commitment to food safety and public health on a national level. There is no other way to reduce foodborne illness without working together. The recommendations presented will help go towards a truly national food safety system.
Prepared by FDA/CFSAN, 2/5/99
50 State Meeting, September 1998