Welcome

The Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) is a multidisciplinary working group convened to increase collaboration across the country and across relevant areas of expertise in order to reduce the burden of foodborne illness in the United States. The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) and the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) co-chair CIFOR with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), foodborne illness affects one in six Americans annually. Of the estimated 48 million who become sick from a foodborne illness each year, 128,000 thousand people are hospitalized and 3,000 individuals die. Many organizations are involved in efforts to mitigate the effects of these illnesses on public health. Outbreak identification and investigation is one of the key areas where multidisciplinary public health professionals must collaborate. CIFOR was created to develop and share guidelines, processes, and products that will facilitate good foodborne outbreak response.

In the Spotlight:

CIFOR is pleased to present archives of the webinar series “Using the CIFOR Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response and Toolkit for Improving Outbreak Response”.  The series was developed in conjunction with University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health webinar series to provide training and education on foodborne disease outbreak response to those at the state and local levels. The webinars include:

• CIFOR Webinar 1: This webinar is for senior level public health officials and describes how state and local health agencies can use the CIFOR Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response to improve their outbreak response. It also demonstrated how participants can use the CIFOR Toolkit within their agencies. Click here for the archive.
• CIFOR Webinar 2: This is for any public health official and reviews outbreak investigation methods and shows participants how to use the CIFOR Toolkit. Participants learned about two states' experiences implementing the Toolkit in order to improve their response to multijurisdictional outbreaks. Click here for the archive.

Featured Clearinghouse Tools:

CIFOR Toolkit Focus Area 11: Food Recall

Are you currently or have you ever participated in a food recall? CIFOR has included guidance in the CIFOR Toolkit agencies interested in ensuring that the food implicated in an outbreak is removed from the market, retail establishments, and the homes of consumers as quickly as possible. The tool is available in the CIFOR Clearinghouse. Click here to access it.