Surveillance and investigation of foodborne diseases; roles for public health in meeting objectives for food safety

Each year, an estimated 76,000,000 persons experience a foodborne infection in the United States. Preventing foodborne infections requires sustained efforts along the entire chain of production. Public health surveillance drives a number of disease prevention programs, including tuberculosis control, polio eradication, and foodborne disease prevention. CDC has launched several new approaches to foodborne disease surveillance, including FoodNet, PulseNet, and the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System for Enteric Bacteria (NARMS). The capacity of public health surveillance in the United States to detect and investigate dispersed foodborne disease outbreaks has been improving dramatically in recent years. Investigation of such outbreaks can yield important insights in how to improve prevention strategies. Many foodborne diseases are preventable, though prevention will require a number of control efforts along the chain from production to consumption. Although progress has been made to date as a result of recent improvements in food safety, further prevention efforts are required in the United States if we are to reach the public health objectives set for 2010.