February 2023 - Foodborne illness outbreaks: Roles and responsibilities ncceh.ca

Further, outbreaks cause major losses due to restrictions on trade and the sale of food products.2 The globalization of the food supply has resulted in the daily movement of large volumes of food across domestic and international borders.3 Increasing evidence for the transboundary nature of foodborne pathogens4 poses an additional challenge for food safety, and highlights a growing need for intern. [...] The survey focussed on clarifying outbreak roles and responsibilities across outbreak categories, and the identification of outbreak tools and resources. [...] Here, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) routinely takes a lead role in the coordination and communication of the outbreak response.3 Under the coordination provided by PHAC, local EPHPs are routinely involved in the epidemiology, environmental health assessments, and collection of food, environmental, and clinical samples. [...] The globalization of the food supply has resulted in the daily movement of large volumes of food and subsequent increasing evidence for the transboundary nature of foodborne pathogens, signalling a growing need for international communication and collaboration in foodborne illness outbreak detection, investigation, and response. [...] Many outbreak policies and manuals stress the importance of risk communication and sharing of lessons learned during outbreaks.3,28,29 According to Canada’s FIORP,3 the goals of the post-outbreak debrief should include: • Confirmation of the outbreak causes; • Effectiveness of outbreak control measures and any difficulties met in implementation; • Identification of the short- and long-term measure.