Lessons Learned: Food Safety Preparedness before the Next Natural Disaster
What do Hurricane Katrina, Superstorm Sandy, tornadoes across the Midwest and the Kamaishi earthquake in Japan all have in common? Food and water in affected areas may become contaminated with microbiological and chemical agents. Food safety risks are mainly linked to unsafe food storage, handling, preparation and ill employees. Processors with warehouses and retail stores that lack power cannot maintain proper temperature control. Foodservice facilities may find it impossible to cook the food they have during natural disasters due to a lack of facilities or fuel. Poor sanitation, including lack of safe water and toilet facilities, can compound these risks.
Food Safety Magazine asked U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists Martin A. Kalis, M.A., public health advisor, and Robert Blake, M.P.H., R.E.H.S., environmental health scientist, Alabama Department of Public Health’s Timothy N. Hatch, M.P.A., R.E.H.S., Debra Pandak, CSS-Dynamac, which assists federal, state and local agencies in responding to natural disasters, Rich Ritota, former program manager, Food and Drug Safety Program at the New Jersey Department of Health and current president of Food Safe Systems LLC, Mark S. Miklos, senior manager program compliance, National Restaurant Association, and former vice president of food safety & training for Waffle House Inc., and the Association of Food and Drug Officials’ Joe Corby how the food industry can best prepare for the next natural disaster before it strikes.
FSM: What are the main areas that require advance preparation to ensure safe food after a natural disaster hits? And who is responsible for carrying this out?
Kalis and Blake: Foodservice providers will have immediate questions and concerns following any disaster. These will likely include: How do I protect my inventory? How do I maintain operations? How do I continue to serve healthy food? How do I continue the viability of my establishment?
The best way to address these and other concerns is before an emergency or disaster.
Prior to any emergency or disaster, regardless of whether it is natural or technological/human-caused, the community response partners need to understand their roles and responsibilities related to food safety based on applicable laws and established plans and guidance.
Contacting the local health department or food/restaurant inspection authority and asking about contingency planning is a good first step. If no planning has occurred for food protection after a disaster, food facilities can initiate these discussions with the health department.
Often, your professional organization, food/restaurant inspection authority or department of health makes an excellent advocate for initiating a multiagency/organization discussion to define roles and formulate custom plans for your community.
FSM: Around 30 states have Food Protection Task Forces comprising regulatory, academic and industry members, which are great resources for these types of planning issues.
Kalis and Blake: Other types of local first responders that conduct emergency preparedness exercises may be willing to include foodservice facilities. Plans can address topics such as how to protect food during long power outages and how to address flooding or sewage backups, spills and other events that could affect water quality. Foodservice facility managers will likely wish to make a list of all questions and concerns prior to attending an emergency planning meeting.
Organizations that might have an interest in this type of planning would include restaurant and food safety-related professional organizations, emergency management and public health agencies, humanitarian and nonprofit organizations (e.g., American Red Cross, Salvation Army), private industry (e.g., food vendors) and other partners and stakeholders (e.g., utility companies, media, Homeland Security, National Guard and fire and police departments).
Collaborative emergency preparedness training and exercising before an emergency are critical as these activities define roles, introduce the participants to each other and identify areas needing improvement before an actual event. Also, mutual-aid agreements can be put into place to help define roles and responsibilities and provide assistance during any emergency event that may affect food and water safety.
FSM: Building these relationships between food protection stakeholders prior to a disaster/emergency is very important.
Hatch: Advanced preparation is essential to the viability of any food establishment, from the supplier to the retailer. Plans should be done at the facility level with input from partners and regulators alike that factor in the needed elements for safe operation after a disaster. Some of the common areas are backup power, alternate water supply, innovative (and approved) methods of liquid and solid waste disposal and volunteer training on food safety. Just in Time (JIT) training for volunteer food handlers is a must. All too often, there are areas of food safety that are completely foreign to the novice food handler, and some are risk factors that must be taught in order to be fully understood. Private organizations do a fine job of day-to-day food safety training, but after a disaster, we do not have the time to conduct such, so JIT food safety training is always needed.
Pandak: I’d add FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] and the U.S. EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] to the list. For example, FEMA ESF [Emergency Support Function] #11 addresses food safety during a disaster and the agencies involved. Also, the Red Cross has developed multiple “apps” that are available to individuals and companies that may require support in developing plans to respond to natural disasters and [that] support individuals and establishments post a disaster event at www.redcross.org/prepare/mobile-apps.
Corby: All disasters are unique and can present unique challenges to regulatory officials. Having a trained field staff with knowledge on preparing for natural disasters is government’s best hope for being able to respond effectively. Regulatory officials know their communities, the food establishments that exist there and industry representatives who can be called upon when a disaster strikes. Everyone is capable of playing a major role in disaster response and being familiar with all appropriate contacts is crucial. Handing out business cards during a disaster event is way too late.
Quick Links on CDC Food Safety and Emergency Response
Environmental Health Training in Emergency Response (EHTER): CDC has collaborated with federal, state and local public health and environmental health partners to develop the EHTER awareness-level course. During emergency response, state and local authorities perform many critical functions, such as conducting food safety assessments and inspections, testing drinking water supplies and controlling disease-causing vectors. This free 32-hour, introductory-level training provides an overview of environmental health topics and challenges faced during emergencies. For more on EHTER, see www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/eLearn/EHTER.htm.
Since 2009, EHTER has been taught at FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP). CDC is collaborating with CDP to develop an EHTER operations-level course to allow environmental health professionals to use and practice response and recovery skills, including those related to food safety, in a disaster setting. For more information, see http://cdp.dhs.gov/training/program/hh/#ehterops.
Environmental Public Health Online Courses (EPHOC): EPHOC is an online/on-demand package of free courses for those interested in environmental public health. Among other topics, EPHOC contains a module on food protection. For more on EPHOC, visit www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/eLearn/EPHOC.htm.
E-Learning on Environmental Assessment of Foodborne Illness Outbreaks: CDC’s new e-learning provides training for food safety officials and others on how to investigate foodborne illness outbreaks as part of an outbreak response team, identify environmental factors and recommend appropriate control measures. For food safety professionals in the restaurant industry, this training provides information on investigating a foodborne illness outbreak from an environmental health perspective and on applying FDA guidelines for sanitation, food preparation and storage used in the foodservices industry. More on this free training can be found at www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/eLearn/EA_FIO/index.htm.
Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net): EHS-Net was established to contribute to a better understanding of the causes of restaurant-related foodborne illness outbreaks and to translate that understanding into improved prevention practices. EHS-Net studies and associated plain-language summaries provide valuable information about important restaurant food safety practices. This information can be very useful for the development of effective restaurant food safety interventions. For more on EHS-Net, visit www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/EHSNet/.
National Voluntary Environmental Assessment Information System (NVEAIS): NVEAIS is an effort to systematically collect, analyze, interpret and disseminate environmental data from foodborne illness outbreak investigations nationwide. The system will provide food safety program officials with information to help prevent foodborne illness outbreaks associated with restaurants and other food venues. For more on NVEAIS, see www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/NVEAIS/index.htm