Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued the Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation (CORE) Investigation Table. This new tool will share information on FDA foodborne illness outbreak investigations, even in their early stages and as soon as FDA begins its response to the outbreak. It will give consumers early awareness of developing multistate outbreaks that are occurring across the United States.
Outbreak investigations go through several stages. Some outbreak investigations will uncover enough information to develop specific recommendations for consumers, retailers and industry. Others yield limited information throughout the investigation and detailed advice for consumers cannot be developed. For the former, we have processes and tools laid out to communicate about these investigations. Currently, a public health advisory is issued for outbreak investigations that have resulted in specific, actionable steps for consumers to take to protect themselves. This will remain the same.