The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will host a webinar on April 13, 2022 at 2 p.m. ET on the Foodborne Outbreak Response Improvement Plan that the agency released in early December 2021.

Deputy FDA Commissioner Frank Yiannas and FDA experts across the agency’s human foods program will be available to explain and answer questions about the plan with the goal of raising awareness, enhancing understanding, and building support. Stakeholders are welcome to provide their insights, as well as ask questions.

This response improvement plan focuses on tech-enabled product traceback, root-cause investigations, analysis and dissemination of outbreak data, and operational improvements. It is intended to work in concert with FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint, which outlines specific approaches that FDA will take over the next decade to address food safety in the rapidly changing food system.

The plan was also informed by an independent review of FDA’s structural and functional capacity to support, participate in, or lead multistate foodborne illness outbreak investigation activities.

Registration is required to attend the webinar. The registration form will provide an opportunity to ask questions in advance. Click here to register.

Participants are also welcome to submit questions during the webinar to SmarterFoodSafety@fda.hhs.gov. The webinar will also be recorded and posted to FDA's website.