The Codex Alimentarius Committee (CAC) recently drafted a new guidance for the management of microbiological foodborne illness outbreaks at the 52nd Session of the Committee on Food Hygiene. The guidance aims to establish local, national, and multiagency networks of preparedness to limit the scale of such outbreaks by standardizing communication, interpretations, and methodology. CAC emphasized the importance of transparent and cooperative information-sharing across international and industrial parties.
To effectively handle and mitigate foodborne illness outbreaks, the guidance describes ways in which authorities can create and maintain preparedness systems, including: