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.

Upcoming Webinars:

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

• May 15 from 2:00-3:15 PM EDT: CIFOR Webinar 1 is for senior level public health officials. The webinar will describe how state and local health agencies can use the CIFOR Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response to improve their outbreak response. It will also demonstrate how participants can use the CIFOR Toolkit within their agencies. To learn more, click here.
• May 21 from 1:00-2:15 PM EDT: CIFOR Webinar 2 is for any public health official. The webinar will review outbreak investigation methods and show participants how to use the CIFOR Toolkit. Participants will also learn about two states’ experiences implementing the Toolkit in order to improve their response to multijurisdictional outbreaks. To learn more, click here.

In the Spotlight:

Implementing the CIFOR Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response: State- and City-based Trainings

The Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) are providing support to interested state and large urban health departments interested in providing a training workshop using the Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response and the CIFOR Toolkit. Please see the attached request for proposals for more information.

Featured Clearinghouse Tools:

Crosswalks Between National Initiatives and the CIFOR Toolkit

Are you pursuing public health accreditation, enrolling in the FDA Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards, or interested in the CDC National Public Health Performance Standards? CIFOR has included a crosswalk in the CIFOR Toolkit for health departments interested in understanding the connections between the Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response and these other public health national initiatives. The crosswalk is available in the CIFOR Clearinghouse. Click here to access it.