FDA Announces Plan to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response
On December 9, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its Foodborne Outbreak Response Improvement Plan to optimize its investigations into outbreaks of foodborne illness, specifically regarding speed, effectiveness, coordination, and communication. These improvements will help reduce the number of foodborne outbreaks that go unsolved and ultimately bend the curve of foodborne illness in the U.S.
The new plan will work in harmony with FDA's New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint. The plan will focus on tech-enabled traceability, root cause analysis, outbreak data, and operational improvements.